SHERMAN 392 SHERMAN ACT family, resigned his commission Sept. 6, 1853, and removed to San Francisco, where he engaged in the banking business till 1858, when he went to Leavenworth, Kan., leaving there in July, 1859, on being elected superintendent of the Louisiana State Military Institute, which position he resigned when the Civil War began. After the fall of Fort Sumter he was commissioned colonel of the 13th United States Infantry, and commanded the 3d Brigade at the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. On the reorganization of the WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN National army he was made brigadier- general of volunteers, accompanied Gen- eral Anderson to Kentucky, succeeded him temporarily in command till at his own request he was relieved by General Buell and was ordered to Missouri. In the early part of 1862 he was appointed to the command of a division under General Grant, and acted with great bravery at the battle of Shiloh, April 6; was pro- moted to major-general, May 1 ; and when the Department of Tennessee was formed, in December, was made commander of the 15th Army Corps. At the end of that month he led an expedition to Vicksburg; but the works were too strong to be taken by assault, and he was obliged to with- draw his troops after a severe fight. He commanded the wing of the army that captured Fort Hindman, Ark., Jan. 10, 1863, after which he resumed command of the 15th Army Corps; took part in the siege of Vicksburg, which capitulated July 3, 1863 ; and led the expedition which captured Jackson City, July 10. When General Grant was placed in command of the army previously under General Rosecrans, he gave the command of the Department of the Tennessee to General Sherman, who encountered Gen- eral Longstreet, and obliged him to re- treat, Nov. 20; and in February, 1864, made his expedition to Meridian, Miss., and broke up that important railroad center, driving General Polk's army out of Mississippi. Having been charged with the command of the army in Georgia, May 4, he commenced the expedition through that State which ended in the capture of Atlanta, the capital city. Gen- eral Hood thrice attacked the Federal army and was repulsed, sustaining con- siderable loss. After his third failure General Hood acted merely on the defen- sive in Atlanta, which fell into the hands of the Nationals in the beginning of Sep- tember. In October Hood began his move- ment toward Tennessee. Sherman fol- lowed him as far as Resaca, 75 miles, drove him from the railroad, and then sent part of his army to Tennessee to defend that State, and with the balance began his "march to the sea," to act in concert with the Union army in Virginia against Lee. The distance from Atlanta to Savannah is 290 miles. General Sher- man accomplished the march with very little loss in 23 days; and Savannah fell into his hands Dec. 21, 1864. The news of its capture was received with great rejoicing in the North, not only because it showed how triumphant the campaign in Georgia had been, but because it opened up the seaboard of that State and inflicted a heavy blow on the Confederate cause. General Sherman defeated the Confed- erates at Bentonville, N. C, March 19, 1865, and soon afterward paid a visit to General Grant, to concert those measures for the defeat of General Lee which ended in the submission of that general and that of Gen. J. E. Johnston, who surrendered his army to General Sherman, April 26, 1865, which was one of the closing actions of the war. General Sherman was pro- moted to the rank of lieutenant-general, July 25, 1866; succeeded General Grant as general, March 4, 1869; was retired Feb. 8, 1884, and died in New York City, Feb. 14, 1891. SHERMAN ACT, an act of the United States Congress, approved July 14, 1890. It was the culmination of a long disagree- ment between the two Houses over a financial policy, neither side being dis- posed to yield. This bill was supported
