Download The World's Greatest Generals: The Life and Career of William Tecumseh Sherman AudioBook Free
William Tecumseh Sherman (February 8, 1820-February 14, 1891) holds a unique position in American background. Synonymous with barbarity in the South, Sherman is lauded as a conflict hero in the North, and modern historians consider him the harbinger of total conflict. As a General in the Union Military through the American Civil Warfare (1861-65), Sherman was accepted for his exceptional command of armed service strategy but criticized for the harshness of the "scorched earth" policies that he implemented in executing total war from the Confederate Expresses, especially in 1864 and 1865. Armed forces historian BH Liddell Hart famously declared that Sherman was "the first modern basic". Sherman spent a majority of the conflict out west, though it is often overlooked that he was a brigade commander at the First Fight of Bull Run, and that the Civil Warfare actually completed with Basic Joseph E. Johnston surrendering to Sherman weeks after Appomattox. By 1865, Sherman was the second most popular basic in the North behind Grant, and background has accorded him a strong Civil Warfare legacy. Nevertheless, Sherman remains controversial across much of the United States today. He was unquestionably instrumental at battles like Shiloh, his victory in the Atlanta Campaign reassured Lincoln's reelection, and his March to the Sea revolutionized total warfare. At the same time, the South considered him comparable to a terrorist, violating the norms of warfare by concentrating on civilians, and accuse him of needlessly using up Atlanta and Columbia. In many ways, Sherman is still the scourge of the South, practically 150 years after he vowed to make Georgia howl.
