Thomas West Sherman-Union Army
(1813-1879)
It was Thomas West Sherman’s lot to be totally eclipsed by a brilliant soldier with the same last name, and to suffer bitter disappointment during the Civil War. Born in Newport in 1813, Tom Sherman had military ambitions from his youth. It was said that he persuaded a fisherman to row him across Narragansett Bay, and then he walked to New York to be examined for entrance to West Point. He was successful in entering the academy and completed the course in 1836. He became an artillery officer and saw service in Indian conflicts and the Mexican War, when he won a brevet to major for gallantry at the Battle of Buena Vista. He was doing duty on the frontier when he married the daughter of Kansas territorial governor Wilson Shannon. He also served during the antebellum years in Minnesota, the Dakota Territory, and at Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor.
After the outbreak of the Civil War, Sherman was called to Washington, appointed a brigadier general, and given a golden opportunity — command of the land forces in the amphibious expedition against Port Royal, on the coast of South Carolina. Port Royal fell, but Sherman’s performance displeased the government and he was relieved. After a brief tenure in command of a division in the advance on Cornith, Mississippi, he was again relieved and placed in command of the defenses of New Orleans. Early in 1863, Sherman was named to command to 2nd Division of General Nathaniel Banks’s 19th Corps. In the assault on Port Hudson, Louisiana, May 27, 1863, General Sherman was on horseback in the advance of his charging soldiers when he was shot in the right leg. The wound resulted in an amputation at the thigh, and his active service was over. About ten months later he returned to his New Orleans command and remained until after the war’s end.
In 1865 General Sherman was brevetted major general in both the regular and volunteer service. Resuming life in the regular army, he became colonel of the 3rd Artillery and with it garrisoned several posts on the Atlantic coast, including Key West. For a time he was stationed at Fort Adams, in his home town of Newport. In 1868, he was briefly in command of the Department of the East. In 1870 he was invalided out of the army with the rank of major general. General Sherman died nine years later in Newport (his wife Mary had died four days earlier). He is buried in Island Cemetery in Newport. (Also buried there are Union generals Isaac Stevens, who was killed at Chantilly, and Gouverneur K. Warren of Gettysburg fame.)
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After the outbreak of the Civil War, Sherman was called to Washington, appointed a brigadier general, and given a golden opportunity — command of the land forces in the amphibious expedition against Port Royal, on the coast of South Carolina. Port Royal fell, but Sherman’s performance displeased the government and he was relieved. After a brief tenure in command of a division in the advance on Cornith, Mississippi, he was again relieved and placed in command of the defenses of New Orleans. Early in 1863, Sherman was named to command to 2nd Division of General Nathaniel Banks’s 19th Corps. In the assault on Port Hudson, Louisiana, May 27, 1863, General Sherman was on horseback in the advance of his charging soldiers when he was shot in the right leg. The wound resulted in an amputation at the thigh, and his active service was over. About ten months later he returned to his New Orleans command and remained until after the war’s end.
In 1865 General Sherman was brevetted major general in both the regular and volunteer service. Resuming life in the regular army, he became colonel of the 3rd Artillery and with it garrisoned several posts on the Atlantic coast, including Key West. For a time he was stationed at Fort Adams, in his home town of Newport. In 1868, he was briefly in command of the Department of the East. In 1870 he was invalided out of the army with the rank of major general. General Sherman died nine years later in Newport (his wife Mary had died four days earlier). He is buried in Island Cemetery in Newport. (Also buried there are Union generals Isaac Stevens, who was killed at Chantilly, and Gouverneur K. Warren of Gettysburg fame.)
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