Major General William T. Sherman was a prominent Union general during the American Civil War. Born on February 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1840. Sherman is best known for his leadership in the March to the Sea, a military campaign that aimed to cripple the Confederate war effort by destroying infrastructure and supplies. Sherman's tactics emphasized total war, which aimed to break the will of the Southern states to continue fighting. After the war, he served as the commanding general of the United States Army from 1869 to 1883, shaping military policy during the Reconstruction era.