Sherman House photograph   Save
Ohio History Connection Properties File
Description: This photograph depicts the Sherman House, birthplace of the brothers General William Tecumseh Sherman and statesman John Sherman. The home is a Registered National Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) was born in Lancaster, Ohio. Orphaned at age nine, he was raised by Thomas Ewing, a U. S. senator who also served as secretary of the treasury and secretary of the interior. He graduated sixth in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in positions in the South, where he gained great knowledge of the Southern people and the geography of the region. Sherman served in the Mexican War, but left the army in 1853. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Sherman accepted a position as a colonel in the regular army. He became well known for his tactics of property damage and psychological warfare against the southern people, best illustrated by his march through Georgia. His goal was to convince the southern people to stop the war, and prevent more battle field deaths. Sherman is credited with the saying "War is hell." John Sherman (1823-1900) grew up in Lancaster, Ohio, one of eleven children of Ohio Supreme Court Justice Charles Sherman. In 1840, Sherman moved to Mansfield to live with his oldest brother, Charles Jr. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, as secretary of the treasury, and secretary of state. He authored numerous pieces of legislation, though he is best remembered for the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Sherman was considered for the Republican presidential ticket three times, but never gained his party's nomination. Critics claimed that he was a cool and distant man and that these personality traits cost him the presidency. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3244_4401982_001
Subjects: Presidents and Politics; Military Ohio; Architecture; Civil War; Houses; National Register of Historic Places; Sherman, John, 1823-1900; Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Places: Lancaster (Ohio); Fairfield (Ohio)