Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/877

 SHERMAN 851 furnished the astronomical calculations for an almanac published in New York. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1754, was several times elected to the colonial assembly, and in 1759 was appointed judge of the court of common pleas. Having removed to New Haven in 1761, he became judge of common pleas there in 1765, and the next year an assistant or member of the upper house in the legislature (a body consisting of 12 persons), both which offices he held for about 19 years, and his judgeship till 1789, the latter portion of the time on the bench of the superior court. He was a mem- ber of the continental and the United States congress from 1774 to 1791, when he was elected United States senator. He was also a member of the governor's council of safety, and from 1784 till his death mayor of New Haven ; and he was for many years treasurer of Yale college. In 1776 he was a member of the committee appointed to draft the dec- laration of independence, of which he was one of the signers ; and during the war he performed important services on committees and boards. In 1783 he was associated with another judge in codifying the laws of Con- necticut. He had been one of the committee which framed the old articles of confedera- tion ; and he was one of the most efficient members of the constitutional convention of 1787, and was chiefly instrumental in secu- ring the ratification of the constitution by the state convention of Connecticut. SHKKMAX. I. William Teenmseh, an American soldier, born at Lancaster, Ohio, Feb. 8, 1820. He graduated at West Point in 1840, served in the Florida war in 1840-'42, and was at various military posts in the south till 1847, when he went to California, and was acting assistant adjutant general there till 1850. He was on commissary duty at St. Louis in 1850-'52, and at New Orleans till Sept. 6, 1853, when he re- signed. From 1853 to 1857 he was a banker in San Francisco and New York, and in 1858-'9 he practised law in Leavenworth, Kansas. He was superintendent of the Louisiana military school at Alexandria from 1859 to January, 1861, when he went to St. Louis. On May 14, 1861, he was reappointed in the army with the rank of colonel, and on the 17th was made brigadier general of volunteers ; and he com- manded a brigade in the. first battle of Bull Run (July 21). In October he was appointed to the command of the department of the Cumberland, but afterward took charge of a camp of instruction at St. Louis till February, 1862, when he was placed in command of the district of Paducah, Ky. He commanded a division in the Tennessee and Mississippi cam- paign, was in the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 7, where he was wounded, was in the advance upon and siege of Corinth, April 15 to May 30, and was made major general of volunteers May 1. He commanded the hastily organized expedition which attempted to capture Vicks- burg, Dec. 27-29. In 1863, in command of the 15th army corps, he led the expedition which carried Arkansas Post by assault, Jan. 11, and till July 3 was actively engaged in the siege of Vicksburg. He was made brigadier general in the regular army, his commission dating from July 4, and during the summer and autumn was engaged in various operations in Missis- sippi and Tennessee. He commanded the left wing of the army at Chattanooga, Nov. 23-25, and at the beginning of December compelled Gen. Longstreet to raise the siege of Knox- ville. In February, 1864, with 20,000 men, he marched to Meridian, Miss., and broke up the railroads centring there. He held the com- mand of the department and army of the Ten- nessee till March 12, when he took that of the military division of the Mississippi, composed of the departments of Ohio, Cumberland, Ten- nessee, and Arkansas. Having organized at Chattanooga an army of 100,000 men, he inva- ded Georgia, engaging the confederate forces under Gen. J. E. Johnston, whom he forced to evacuate Dalton (May 12), at Resaca (15). Cassville (19), Dallas (25-28), and afterward almost daily till the protracted operations about Kenesaw mountain, near Marietta (June 20- July 2), which involved a severe repulse (June 27). He occupied Marietta on July 8, and after several other engagements repeatedly defeated Gen. Hood, Johnston's successor in command, before Atlanta, the severest battle being fought on July 22, and began the siege of that city. On Aug. 12 he was made a major general in the regular army. The battle of Jonesboro was fought Aug. 31. In the night of Sept. 1 Atlanta was evacuated by Hood, and Gen. Sherman occupied the city till the middle of November, when he began his fa- mous march to the sea. He reached Savan- nah Dec. 13, stormed and captured Fort Mc- Allister, and on the 21st received the sur- render of the city. "With the Savannah river as his base he marched into the Carolines, and occupied Columbia, S. C., on Feb. 17. He captured Cheraw on March 3, and Fayetteville, N. C., on the 12th. On the 16th he fought the battle of Averysboro, and on the 19th, 20th, and 21st that of Bentonville, and on the 23d entered Goldsboro. On April 13 he oc- cupied Raleigh, and on the 26th the confed- erate army under Gen. J. E. Johnston surren- dered at Durham Station, N. C., upon terms which were rejected by the government. Sher- man's advance to Richmond and Washington, from April 28 to May 24, ended his southern marches of more than 2,600 m. On June 27 he was appointed to the command of the mili- tary division of the Mississippi, comprising the departments of the Ohio, Missouri, and Arkan- sas, with headquarters at St. Louis. On July 25 1866, he succeeded Gen. Grant as lieuten- ant general, and on Aug. 11 took command c the division of the Missouri. In November and December he was employed on a specia mission in Mexico. He was made general on the vacation of that grade by President Grant,