On August 18th 1864, General Sherman succeeded Ulysses Grant as Commander General of the Union Forces, and proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of the city of Atlanta, and this military success contributed to the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln. General Sherman accepted the surrender of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida in April 1865.
However, the purpose of throwing out this little tidbit of Civil War history is to introduce you to General William Tecumseh Sherman. I saw that and thought "goodness he must have been born round here" so looked him up, but no, he was born in Lancaster, Ohio. He was given the name Tecumseh because his father "caught a fancy for the great chief of the Shawnees".
To briefly explain - The Shawnees, of which Chief Tecumseh was the leader, was a large tribal Confederacy which opposed the United States and became an ally of Britain in the War of 1812. Chief Tecumseh died in the Battle of the Thames in 1813, which was a decisive US victory in the War of 1812.
General Sherman's father was a successful lawyer who sat on the Ohio Supreme Court, and died unexpectedly in 1829, which would make him - would it not - a contemporary of Chief Tecumseh. History doesn't seem to tell us whether he just liked the name, or particularly admired him.
This day in 2014, at least to me, has not been very eventful. Louise told me that Cecil's funeral will be on Thursday in a large Methodist church - the little Methodist chapel of which he was a member would be far too small. I am even wondering if the main Methodist church, big as it is, will be big enough. All the Freemasons will be there, and the Veterans, and the hierarchy of Kiwanis, to name a few. I can see it will be standing room only.
No comments:
Post a Comment