William Tecumseh Sherman was a great asset towards the union winning the civil war. General Sherman's many smaller victories brought him to the height in his military career, the Atlanta campaign. Some say that Sherman's great march to the sea was purely barbaric. However this march was an important factor causing the south to be unable to muster enough strength to win or ever rise again. William Tecumseh Sherman was born on May 8, 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio. He was educated at West Point in 1840 and graduated sixth in his class. After his graduation he became a staff officer in San Francisco during the Mexican War, and he received a brevet for meritorious service. Sherman resigned from the army in 1853 and became a partner in a banking firm in San Francisco. After his banking endeavors met success he was offered the job as the president of the Military College in Louisiana. Sherman presided over Louisiana Military School from 1859-1861. There was a lot of talk of the secess!
             ion from the Union running wild. At this point Sherman was living in the south on January 18,1861, Sherman resigned his position stating that he "preferred to maintain his allegiance to the Constitution as long as a fragment of it survived" (members.Nbci.com). Immediately after his resignation Sherman offered his services to the Union. Due to the fact that Sherman had already been an officer in the Mexican War he was put in command of a volunteer infantry regiment. Sherman predicted that the war would be a long drawn out confrontation. "You might as well try to put out the burning flames of a house with a squirt gun, I think it is to be a long war, longer than any politician thinks"(Foote 297). The popular belief from the north was that the war would only take a couple of months to appease the Rebels. It was also believed that there was no real threat from the South and that it would not take a large army to overwhelm the South's ...