This story was originally published by the Ohio History Connection on Aug. 23, 2012. It is published here as part of a collaborative agreement.
Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman is well remembered in Ohio.
In his hometown of Lancaster, the Fairfield Heritage Association maintains his birthplace as a museum. During Heritage Days in Lancaster, staff from the Ohio Historical Society visited the site with the flag of the 10th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, a unit that served under General Sherman’s command.
This flag appealed to the Sherman house staff and their visitors because of the 10th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry’s connection to Sherman and also to Fairfield County. The unit was organized in the fall of 1862 and went into active service in the spring of 1863.
They were with Sherman during the Atlanta Campaign, the March to the Sea through Georgia, and the final days of the Civil War in the Carolinas.
Most companies of the 10th Cavalry were recruited from northeastern Ohio, but Company A was comprised of soldiers from Fairfield County, of which Lancaster is the county seat, and neighboring Licking County.
It was possible for us to transport the 10th Ohio Cavalry flag to Lancaster because it has been fully conserved and framed. We returned the flag to Lancaster when the Fairfield Heritage Association hosted its Civil War Symposium in September and on Veterans Day.
Sherman is also remembered on a plaque in Columbus’ Franklin Park.
A Columbus Mileposts column in the Columbus Dispatch tells the story of when Sherman gave what is probably his most famous speech right here in Ohio’s capitol city.
In 1880 Civil War veterans gathered in Columbus for a reunion and they were addressed by Sherman, a hero of the Union Army who had led many of them in battle. Sherman’s remarks were paraphrased as “War is hell.”
What he actually said is a bit more complicated and more interesting. The “Columbus Mileposts” column quotes part of the speech.
If you are interested in reading more about the event, you can visit the Ohio History Connection’s Microfilm Room where the Columbus Dispatch archives are on microfilm. The Aug. 12, 1880 issue has Sherman’s remarks. The Ohio History Center is located at I-71 and 17th Avenue in Columbus.
