Sherman, Thomas W. (Thomas West), 1813-1879

Graduate of the U.S. Military Academy in 1836 and appointed Brigadier General May 1861.

Thomas West Sherman was a U.S. Army officer who served in the Mexican-American War and the U.S. Civil War. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1836, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery and played a significant role in the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican-American War. During the Civil War Sherman received a volunteer commission as brigadier general. He briefly commanded the Department of the South and participated in the Siege of Corinth before assuming command of the defenses of New Orleans. Later he took command of a division in Major Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's army at the Siege of Port Hudson, where he was gravely wounded.

Army officer.

Brigadier General Thomas West Sherman was a native of Rhode Island and a veteran of the Mexican War. Sherman commanded land forces of the Port Royal Expedition from October 1861 to March 1862. Major Oliver T. Beard served with the 48th New York Infantry Regiment.

Born in Newport, R.I., Thomas W. Sherman graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1836. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. artillery and played a major part in the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican War. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Sherman received a volunteer commission as brigadier general in 1861 and assumed command of the ground forces that captured Port Royal in S.C. After briefly commanding the Department of the South, Sherman was sent to the Western Theater, taking command of General George H. Thomas's division during the Siege of Corinth and commanding the Defenses of New Orleans. He later commanded a division of General Nathaniel Banks's army during the siege of Port Hudson, an engagement in which he was severely wounded, losing a leg. Sherman retired from active duty in 1870.

Sherman was a Union soldier whose service in the Civil War (1861-1865) began in the defense of Washington, D.C., in 1861. He was promoted to brigadier general, assigned to the Department of the Gulf, and spent the rest of the war in Louisiana.