General William Tecumseh Sherman: What’s Not to Love About Him?

General William T. Sherman was a great man. I have decided to use my words this week and write a tribute to a man with more than his share of spine. I’m honored to share his name and a little DNA. I’m proud of what he stood for. He literally freed the slaves. Like literally killed their masters and broke off their chains. Amen, brother. So many freed slaves followed his army it became a problem. Not knowing what else to do they followed along as he destroyed many a plantation on his infamous march to the sea.

I’ve done a little research and read a little about the good General, but I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert. From what I gather about him, I love him. I love him because I know he would be absolutely hated today. Everything that would make modern man despise William Tecumseh Sherman makes him awesome to me!

First off, he is a quote machine. For a man not known for oratory skills in his time, the quotes he generated are stunning. The absolute most famous one that lingers still is War is hell. This one has stuck in our American culture, but the number of people who can rightly attribute it to “Uncle Billy” dwindles every day. Many of his troops lovingly called him Uncle Billy because he was like a beloved Uncle to everyone. He was loved by his men, but most of his close friends called him “Cump”.

Here are a few more choice quotes pertaining to war from the wise warrior:

– “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it is over.”
– “Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.”
– “In our country…one class of men makes war and leaves another to fight it out.”
– “I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.”
– “War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.”
– “I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for Mercy.”

There are many more but those are some of the best. I’d like to see a General go on Good Morning America or The View or Fox for that matter and say any one of these. Then we could watch the left come unglued. If any of those quotes were true today for how we were fighting Afghanistan, wouldn’t it be different? If fought like this, wars would be shorter, much shorter.

Few realize the genius of William T. and that he understood a few things about war. These things aren’t popular, but they do allow your side to win. It’s the kill people and break things theory.

Currently, our White House Occupant has no idea how to actually win a war. These statements are as a foreign language to him. Our President has but one goal, to end all war and it doesn’t matter if the objective was reached or who won. Just schedule the ending. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/05/28/see-the-reception-obama-received-from-the-u-s-military-academy-that-cnn-anchor-says-is-pretty-icy/

Check out the icy reception from the 2014 West Point grads. Supposedly, less than 25% gave him a standing ovation why would they? They are the brightest of the bright military minds in America. It doesn’t take a West Point Grad to see the destructive force this Commander in Chief is to our military might.

Sherman is most famous for his March to the Sea. He said, “I intend to make Georgia howl.” And he did. He is credited with creating what would be called Total War. This idea was really the forerunner to “Shock and Awe”. He pretty much burned everything in his wake, fed his army with the crops and livestock, and destroyed everything. He understood the power of fear and demoralizing an enemy. He wrote to Lincoln and said, “I beg to present you as a gift the city of Savannah.” I won’t mention Atlanta. I’m still uneasy to share my name in that town because of what he did. Burn it all.

In this Ode to Cump, I must tell of his fondness for the media. Another reason he would be derided today. He despised the media and we weren’t on the 24 hour news cycle yet. No Twitter, no Facebook, no TV, no phones, nothing but word of mouth and print newspapers. So apparently, the way media people are is an actual character thing, not a technology thing, because they were no different in the 1860’s as they are now. Here are a few priceless quotes from the General that would have scrolled along the bottom as breaking news back in the day.

— “If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting reports from Hell before breakfast.”
–“I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are.”

That kind of talk won’t get you interviews or invited to the Correspondents Dinner! The present day left could write Ole Cump off as a crazy, shell-shocked veteran, which in his day they actually did. They could say he was a murderous villain. They may even call him barbaric. To some degree they would be right, but they forget that he was also something we don’t see much of today, extremely loyal. Loyal to his country yes, but more loyal to his friends, his brothers in arms.

General Sherman and General Grant were friends. They were the kind of friends who had each others back for real. The kind of friends who would die for each other or help you bury a body. Sherman refused any attempts to pit himself and Grant against each other. When asked about his friendship with Grant, Sherman said, “Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was a drunk, and now we stand by each other.” Now that’s a real friend to ride the river with.

I have an image in my head of the two grizzled commanders sharing a cigar around the campfire after the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. Literally thousands of dead and wounded lay around them in the dark. I don’t think they overly talked as they stared at the dancing flames. Sherman said solemnly, “We had the devils own day.” To which Grant replied without looking up, “Lick ‘em tomorrow though.” And they did, after being heavily reinforced throughout the night.

My point in writing this rant to honor Bloody Bill, as his enemies called him, is to say, this is the type of man we have come from. Many of us share the same spirit today. This is why America will not go quietly into the goodnight. We will not surrender this great land to the insidious weakness that is destroying us from within. Let us end this time together with one last statement from my ancestor and a great American general.

“Courage – a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.”

God bless America. I pray that sitting in that graduating class at West Point or in some recruiting station in Nowhere, USA we have some good ones like William Tecumseh Sherman coming up, because we’re going to need them.

Author, S.C. Sherman’s latest novel titled Mercy Shot is available for purchase at www.scsherman.com and Kindle version is available on Amazon.com. Contact Steve via email steve@scsherman.com. Also, go LIKE www.facebook.com/mercyshot to stay up to date on all things Mercy Shot.

Doug ‘The Big Dawg’ Giles reviews Mercy Shot: “Mercy Shot is a riveting, modern tale of the twisted and insidious war that’s being waged against our Second Amendment rights. S.C. Sherman does a great job of forecasting in this timely tome of how things could possibly go down. My advice is to a.)Read this book and b.) Buy a stack of guns and ammo, pretty damn quick. Molon Labe“.–-Doug Giles, CEO of ClashDaily.com