According to historian John Marszalek, author of "Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order," said, "Shock and awe. That's really what Sherman was talking about."
"Cump" Sherman had had a hard childhood. His father died penniless while he was young and his mother sent him to be raised by another family. Coming from this rough childhood, Sherman had a lifelong passion for order and stability according to Marszalek.
Central to this was the restoration of the Union and the rule of law. That meant, the Confederacy had to be destroyed and the sooner the better.
Sherman had wept aloud in 1861 when he read that South Carolina had seceded, which he knew would start a war. At the time he was superintendent of a military school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which would eventually become Louisiana State University. He resigned and later accepted a commission in his former U.S. Army, knowing that he would eventually face the cadets he had trained.
Ironically, Sherman always considered himself a friend of the South.
"Cump" a Form of His Middle Name, Tecumseh. --Old Secesh
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