• Outstanding Civil War collection
• Sherman at War exhibit
• Re-creation of Sherman's Civil War field tent
• Weapons and Veterans exhibits
• Local, State, and National artifacts
• Numerous portraits and photographs
• Sherman family memorabilia

• Birthplace and childhood home of General William T. and U.S. Senator John Sherman
• National Historic Landmark
• Original frame home built in 1811
• Furnishings reflecting the lifestyle of the remarkable Sherman family
• Victorian addition features furniture owned by General and Ellen Sherman

• General William Tecumseh Sherman, celebrated Civil War leader
• U.S. Senator John Sherman, noted statesman
• Ohio Supreme Court Judge Charles Sherman, father of William, John and niece other siblings

      General Sherman was born February 8, 1820 and named William Tecumseh after the great Indian chief of the Shawnee but acquired the nickname Cump from his siblings. He was the sixth child born of what would eventually become eleven siblings, to Judge Charles and Mary Hoyt Sherman.

      The Sherman's were well educated and highly cultured by Lancaster standards at this time. Charles was a sixth generation attorney and Mary was a graduate of the Sketchley Finishing School. The children received strict guidance and direction regarding manners, education and high moral values. Life in Lancaster was good for children. Cump always received good grades while attending the Lancaster Academy and even more important, was exposed to intellectual conversation from his parents and from the travelers who visited them.

      Although his father's Supreme Court position kept him from home often, Cump led a fairly normal, happy childhood. He had many friends and the vacant lot between the Sherman house and the Ewing's next door was a natural playground for the neighborhood youth. Sharing, patience, compromise and getting along were attributes he learned from growing up with a large family and a large group of friends. His parents enrolled him and the other older children in a private school for dance and other forms of the arts which stayed with Cump all of his life.

      At the age of nine, Cump's world turned upside-down due to the untimely death of his father. For financial reasons his mother sent several of the children to live with friends and relatives. Cump was sent to live with the Ewing family whom he knew quite well but life would never be the same. Having been a foster child herself, Mrs. Ewing was very sensitive to his needs and the trauma surrounding his family at this time. Cump adjusted to the Ewing family, and although he saw his mother frequently, he remained conscience of his awkward situation.

     Tall for his age but very thin and wiry, at thirteen years old, he got his first job working on the lateral canal being dug through Lancaster. Another summer he spent with his foster brother Phil Ewing on the farm of an Ewing relative outside of town. Although farm work was hard, he learned how and why things grow and he looked at land differently for the rest of his life.

      Thomas Ewing had become a powerful United States Senator and had a West Point Academy appointment at his disposal. He felt Cump would do well at West Point and had the makings of a soldier. Also, understanding the value of an education, he told Cump to bone up on math, Latin and foreign language to prepare himself for schooling at the academy. Of Cump's youth Ewing wrote, "I never knew so young a lad who would do an errand so correctly and promptly as he did. He was transparently honest, faithful and reliable, studious and correct in habits."

       Even as a youngster, Cump appreciated all of the things the Ewings had done for him but it was imperative that he prove to himself, to Thomas Ewing and to the world that he could succeed on his own. Even though he had two families, neither was in a position to satisfy all of his needs. At the age of sixteen Cump left home carrying many unmet needs and insecurities with him to the Military Academy at West Point. This was his first step toward independence!

Learn More About the Sherman Family

	The SHM does not have a portrait or copy of a portrait of Mary Hoyt Sherman. We hope someone will help us locate one for our collection
Charles Sherman	Mary Hoyt Sherman	John Sherman	William T. Sherman