William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

Raised in Ohio and later taken in by the politically prominent Ewing family, he trained at West Point and built a career that ranged far beyond the battlefield, including service in the Army, banking, and education. Before the Civil War, he also served as superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary, the school that would later become Louisiana State University.

He became one of the Union’s most important generals during the American Civil War, working closely with Ulysses S. Grant and playing central roles in campaigns at Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta, and in the March to the Sea. His military success made him one of the most famous and controversial figures of his era.

After the war, he served as Commanding General of the United States Army and later wrote his memoirs, which remain widely read for their vivid, plainspoken account of command, strategy, and the human strain of war. He died in 1891, leaving behind a legacy that is still debated but impossible to ignore.