GENERAL WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN of the UNION Poster

General William Tecumseh Sherman age 45. Photographed in 1865 by the famed Mathew Brady. Called Uncle Billy by his troops, General Sherman was a refined West Point graduate who loved to quote Shakespeare; however, he could be merciless and some say brutal when he instituted his scorched earth, hard war conquest of the South. At Bull Run, early in the Civil War, President Lincoln was impressed and gave Sherman a field promotion to Brigadier General. Not too much later, General Sherman suffered what would today be considered a Nervous Breakdown. He recovered, and an Historian described him thus: As a man, Sherman was an eccentric mixture of strength and weakness. Although he was impatient, often irritable and depressed, petulant, headstrong, and unreasonably gruff, he had solid soldierly qualities. His men swore by him, and most of his fellow officers admired him. He commanded a great Army that burned Atlanta in a march to the sea . . . wreaking what he calculated as $100 million in damage. He made a final sweep from Savannah up through the Carolina's destroying as he went. To this day, his total war campaign brings disdain from many southerners. But, few deny that he was a brilliant strategist and fearsome opponent . . . loyal to the Constitution, his commanders General U.S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, and the country to the bitter end.