William Tecumseh Sherman - Cornish, NH
Posted by: neoc1
N 43° 30.074 W 072° 22.062
18T E 712806 N 4819844
A dramatic plaster bust of General William Tecumseh Sherman is located in the New Gallery at the end of the Atrium at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, NH.
Waymark Code: WMHNDC
Location: New Hampshire, United States
Date Posted: 07/27/2013
Views: 4
In 1888, Augustus Saint-Gaudens created this 31.5" high plaster bust of General William Tecumseh Sherman. The General has a somewhat disheveled appearance which, according to the story about this bust published in Yankee Magazine, Sherman refused to alter, so that's how Saint-Gaudens sculpted him.
Link to Yankee Magazine article
The larger than life bust depicts General Sherman wearing a Union Army coat, shirt, and bow tie which is clearly tilted. He has a short beard and appears tired as he looks, sternly, straight ahead. The bust rests on a pedestal with WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN inscribed in raised letters.
This bust was later used for the model of Sherman's head on the famous equestrian statue of General Sherman in Central Park (5th Avenue and 59th street) in New York City.
A plaque by the bust is inscribed:
General William Tecumseh Sherman
Civil War Union General (1820 - 1891)
Plaster 1888
SAGA 2529
William Tecumseh Sherman was born on February 8, 1820 in in Lancaster, Ohio. He attended the West Point Military Academy and graduated in 1840. At the outbreak of the Civil War a colonel of the 13th U.S. Infantry regiment. He then served under General Grant and was a hero of the Battle of Shiloh. Thereupon General Grant promoted him to the rank of Major General of volunteers. After the Union victory at Vicksburg, MS Sherman was given the rank of Brigadier General in the Regular Army, in addition to his rank as a Major General of volunteers.
Sherman is most famous for his capture of Atlanta during the Georgia campaign and his subsequent march to the sea through Georgia to capture the port city of Savannah. After the war and the election of Grant to the presidency, Sherman became Commanding General of the Army from 1869 to 1883. He died in New York City on February 14, 1891.