William_Tecumseh_Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman Although the memoirs of William T. Sherman seem biased and self-exalting, they give the readers a closer look not only at the workings of the American Civil War, but they also give us insight into the mind of the famous General. Sherman began attending West Point military academy at the age of seventeen. After an uneventful time for Sherman during the Mexican War, he resigned his commission in 1853 and became head of the San Francisco branch of a bank in St. Louis. In the panic of 1857 the bank failed. In 1858 he was asked to found the Louisiana Seminary of Learning and Military Academy. After Louisiana seceded from the union and Sherman moved back North he was asked to be assistant secretary of war, but he refused wishing the new administration well in its “almost impossible task of governing this distracted and anarchical people”(159). Sherman was highly capable of writing his own memoirs because of his sharp intellect and powerful writing ability. And although he suffered from boughts of depression, that did not detract from his writing. Sherman’s intention in writing the first edition of his memoirs was to provide a “satisfactory war, memoirs, sherman, writing, civil, although, provide, give, first, union, general, facts, edition, book, because, writes, very, stated, since, sherman’s, say, recollection, reader, purpose, provides, powerful, own, one, often, much, mind, military, marietta, louisiana, look