- William Tecumseh Sherman (8 February 1820 – 14 February 1891) was a United States Army general during the American Civil War. He succeeded General Ulysses S. Grant as commander of the Western Theater of that war in the spring of 1864. He later served as Commanding General of the U.S. Army from 1869 to 1883. He is best known for his “March to the Sea” through the U.S. state of Georgia that destroyed a large amount of Confederate infrastructure and appropriated supplies from Confederate civillians while operating without supply lines from the north. He is widely regarded by historians as an early advocate of “Total War”.