William Tecumseh Sherman Quotes
You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing!
Sherman had friends in the South and he saw rebellion and war coming. Most Southerners had a romanticized view of war and were so wrapped up in trying to preserve their economic and cultural way of life that they did not think through the implications of such a war. After and during the war, he was particularly angry with the Southerners who had brought such terrible casualties and destruction upon the land and its people.
William Tecumseh Sherman, 1820-1891, General of the Army & Indian Peace Commissioner, Speech, Louisiana State Seminary, December 24, 1860
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Sherman, one of the most gifted generals of the Civil War. He hated the cruelty of war and the Civil War in particular as he had specifically warned his Southern friends ahead of time about what war would bring. See {585882}. Sherman was one of the first American military men to look at war without any of the romantic, patriotic, noble attributes that most others did.
As influential and revered as he was, Houston would not overcome the drive for secession by the wealthy, large, slave holders of Texas.
Stating the first congressional opposition to the Vietnam War:
Lincoln was depressed when the Union had over 30,000 casualties in a two-week time.
- Born: February 8, 1820
- Died: February 14, 1891
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Soldier
William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), receiving recognition for his command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the scorched earth policies he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederate States. British military theorist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart declared that Sherman was "the first modern general".
