{"id":194,"date":"2014-02-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yule-tide.generalsemiotics.net\/index.php\/2014\/02\/14\/post-187-general-sherman-had-a-conformity-problem\/"},"modified":"2014-02-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T00:00:00","slug":"post-187-general-sherman-had-a-conformity-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/2014\/02\/14\/post-187-general-sherman-had-a-conformity-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-187: General Sherman’s Conformity Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"
I found General Sherman’s memoir in the library.<\/p>\n

Here is what he says of his time at West Point (Summer 1836 to Spring 1840, graduating at age 20): <\/p><\/div>\n

[I graduated] in June, 1840, number six in a class of forty-three. These forty-three were all that remained of more than one hundred which originally constituted the class. At the Academy I was not considered a good soldier, for at no time was I selected for any office<\/strong>, but remained a private throughout the whole four years. Then, as now, neatness in dress and form, with a strict conformity to the rules, were the qualifications required for office, and I suppose I was found not to excel in any of these.<\/strong> [….] My average demerits, per annum, were about one hundred and fifty, which reduced my final class standing from number four to six. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a>General Sherman<\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

It was Sherman’s campaigns in Tennessee and Georgia that were decisive in that war, I think, i.e. “Sherman won the war”. Historians say that Sherman’s capture of Atlanta ensured Lincoln’s reelection (besides giving the setting to “Gone With the Wind”). A weak, ineffectual Union general commanding in the West in 1864, who had not gotten anything done, may have cost Lincoln the election. Lincoln’s opponent was in favor of negotiating terms of peace with the CSA government.<\/p>\n

Sherman — one of the Civil War’s greatest generals —\u00a0 having had a non-stellar performance as a cadet at West Point (“I was not considered a good soldier”), suggests that it’s hard to predict real-life performance based on academic performance<\/strong>. Consider the following West Point class rankings<\/a> of Civil War generals: <\/div>\n

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Read More<\/font><\/font><\/strong><\/a>
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