Skip navigation and jump to page content  The Library of Congress >> Cataloging, Acquisitions
NUCMC, (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections) Library of Congress
 Home    Documentary Heritage of the Civil War    Part 5, 2015: "At War's End: A Nation Mourns and Rebuilds"    William Tecumseh Sherman papers, 1863-1865

William Tecumseh Sherman papers, 1863-1865

William Tecumseh Sherman

General William T. Sherman on horseback on the Union line near Atlanta in 1864. Photographic print on stereo card.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Bennett Place

The Bennett Place near Durham Station, N.C., where General Joseph Johnston surrendered to General Sherman, April 26, 1865.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Location
Pearce Civil War Collection, Navarro College, Corsicana, Tex. External Link
Background
United States Army General during the Civil War, recognized for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched earth" policies that he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederate States.
Contents
Five letters (1863-1865), and one field order (1865), documenting the Civil War career of William Tecumseh Sherman. In the first letter (February 24, 1863), to Edward Otho Cresap Ord, Sherman complains of press leaks interfering with his strategy and his ability to conduct battle; the next two letters were written to Philemon Ewing (Ellen Sherman's brother), from camp on the Big Black River, Miss., shortly after Vicksburg was taken: (July 28, 1863), Sherman describes the physical attributes of his location and the surrounding country; (August 5, 1863), Sherman writes,
"… I still presume Ellen [Sherman's wife, Ellen Ewing Sherman] to be on her way here, and have made every preparation in the way of transportation, subsistence tent & c - if she will cry war, she must come down to hard tack & canvas," continuing, he writes, "As a nation however we must not commit the Fatal blunder of Supposing the war over…"
Three weeks after Sherman's son Willie dies (of typhoid fever while visiting his father at camp), Sherman, expressing his grief, writes to Philemon Ewing (October 24, 1863), who apparently had sent sympathies on Willie's death and in the same letter he writes of his friend Ulysses S. Grant; the last letter (January 28, 1865), written to Maj. Gen J.G. Foster, advises him that the enemy is holding back, taking a wait and see attitude; the field order (April 12, 1865), is a true copy of Sherman's field order No. 54, written and signed by Sherman's secretary, it announces the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
 

(See the NUCMC catalog record)

 

Top of Page Top of Page
 Home    Documentary Heritage of the Civil War    Part 5, 2015: "At War's End: A Nation Mourns and Rebuilds"    William Tecumseh Sherman papers, 1863-1865
  The Library of Congress >> Cataloging, Acquisitions
   February 18, 2015
Legal | External Link Disclaimer Contact Us