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How Did William Tecumseh Sherman's Total War Plan

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William Tecumseh Sherman was one of 11 other children who was born into a mostly well off family, his father being a supreme court justice.. That was until his father died rather suddenly, leading to him and his mother and siblings having to live with relatives and friends. During this time in his life, he was living Thomas Ewing, a senator from Ohio. Ewing was able to obtain an appointment for William at the United States Military Academy, and in 1840 graduated near the top of his class in sixth. During his early military career, he did not see much battle, instead opting to serve in California during the Mexican-American War. He found he did not enjoy the Military and resigned in 1853. Before his return to the Military, he tried his hand …show more content…

On february 11th, Sherman and his men destroyed the railroad depot, and
Sent his men in 4 different directions to destroy just about everything in their path, thus starting his “total war” plan.
During the September of 1864, a Confederate general by the name of John Bell Hood had to retreat his men as they were being pushed back by Sherman 's men, forcing them to destroy and burn any and all supplies, including food, ammo, and other such things. Sherman had his men leave it to burn, and proceeded to rip through all of Atlanta Georgia, leaving a 60 mile wide path of burning destruction, effectively burning Atlanta to the ground. The reason he did this was because he reasoned the only way to win the war was to break the souths will to fight, and so he did just that.
In the year 1869, Grant became president, and Sherman was made a full fledged general. His duties as general consisted of making sure the construction of the railroad was made safe from attacks by hostile indians. To make sure this happened though, he ordered for them to be wiped out, believing this to be the best way for this to happen.
On February 14th, 1891, William Tecumseh Sherman died in New York City. He was buried in the calvary cemetery in St.

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