SHKK.MAN-SIIKUM.VN. 



yean' study and practice of law. as a partner. Here 

 lie practised for ten veal's, acting us attorney for all 

 the railroads centring in Mansfield. In 1848 he 

 married the daughter of the Hon. James Stewart, of 

 that city, and in the same year attended the Whig 

 convention at Philadelphia that nominated Gen. 

 Zachary Taylor for President. In Ix'i- he \uis dele- 

 gate to the Baltimore convention that nominated 

 Winlield Scott In Is55 mainly in consequence of 

 his attitude on the Missouri Compromise question, 

 he was elected to the 34th Congress in the interest of 

 the Free Soil party. Here his familiarity with af- 

 fairs and readiness in debate made him a power 

 both on the floor and in committees. He was re- 

 elected to the 35th Congress, and here, as in the 

 3itli, he took a leading part in questions affecting 

 finance, the extension of slavery to Kansas, the fiavy- 

 yard abuses, etc., so that at the end of his second 

 term he was recognized as the foremost man iu the 

 House. In 1858 he was re-elected to the 36th Con- 

 gress, and in 1859 was made Republican candidate 

 for S|>eaker, but yielded, after 8 weeks' balloting, to 

 Mr. Penuiugton. He was then mode chairman of 

 the ways and means committee, where his zeal iu 

 the cause of the unity of the country and of sound 

 finance, as well as against the spread of slavery, 

 brought him into collision with Pres. Buchanan. 

 In 1800 he was again chosen to Congress, but on 

 the resignation of Senator Chase ho was elected to 

 his place, and took his seat in the Senate in 18G1, 

 being acknowledged as a leader from the first. 

 On the fall of Fort Sumter he tendered his sen-ices 

 to Gen. Patterson, and remained as his aide-de- 

 camp, with the Ohio regiments, till Congress met in 

 July. On the close of the extra session he raised 

 a brigade of 2300 men, largely at his own expense, 

 which was known during the war as the "Sher- 

 man Brigade." During the war ho was mainly 

 engaged on questions of finance, his speeches on 

 State and National banks being the most important, 

 while he powerfully aided the Union by steadily 

 contributing to supply the means for continuing the 

 struggle. After its close, Thaddens Stevens and 

 Sherman were the authors of the bill for the re- 

 construction of the Southern States which Congress 

 enacted in the winter, 18G6-67. In the latter year 

 lie introduced a refunding act, which was adopted in 

 1870, without the resumption clause. In 1.S74 ho 

 was chairman of a committee of nine, appointed l.y 

 a Republican caucus, that agreed upon a bill for 

 the resumption of specie payment on Jan. 1, 1879. 

 In March. 1877, Senator Sherman was appointed 

 by Pres. Hayes secretary of the treasury, and six 

 months Iwfore the date fixed for resumption he had 

 accumulated 8140,000,000 in gold, and saw the legal- 

 tender notes so rival gold in value that on the day 

 fixed for resumption there was no demand for gold 

 in eichangf for them. In 1880 ho was a candidate 

 for the presidential nomination, his vote ranging 

 from 90 to 97, when his supporters combined with 

 those of Hlaine to nominate Gurfield. In 1KN1 he re- 



tur 1 to the Senate, and was re-elected in 1887, nnd 



served as chairman of committees on foreign rela- 

 tions, finance, expenditure, and rules. In 18H8 his 

 name was presented to the Chicago Convention : 

 presidential candidate, and he continued to bo the 

 leading nominee until the last day, when Gen. Har- 

 rison was nominated. 



Without being a great orator, John Sherman is 

 largely indebted for the eminent position which he 

 has attained to his conscientious mastery of eveiv 

 matter with which he undertakes to deal, ami to the 

 power of lucid statement which such a mastery en- } 

 aides a man of vigorous, clear, and well ordered 

 mind to attain. Among the services rendered by 

 him to his country may lx enumerated : The re- 

 form of the abuses in New York custom-house and 



in the National navy yards, the resumption of spe- 

 1 oie payment, and the funding of the public il< l>i. 

 His whole career iu Congress was conspicuous for 

 scrupulous cure for the public credit, and the 

 niny of its funds. See iiev. S. A. Branson's John 

 S/c nniiii : \\'hnt In- linn Xuiil unit Ilaiie (1880). Iu 

 1>7'.> .Mr. Sherman himself published his Selected 

 Speeciie* and liepurts on Finance ami Taxation, 1859- 

 1878. 



SHERMAN, ROGER (1721-1793), a signer of the 

 Declaration of Independence, was bora at X< wton, 

 Mass., April 19, 1721, and taken to Stoniugton, 

 Conn., two years later: his great-grandfather had set- 

 tled at Watertown, Mass., about 1 (>;!,">. With little ear- 

 ly education, he eagerly sought knowledge, and man- 

 aged to overcome great disadvantages. He is t-aid 

 to have kept an open book before his shoemaker's 

 I bench for the utilization of spare moments. At 

 nineteen he was obliged to take his father's place, 

 and become the chief support of a large family. At 

 twenty-two they removed on foot to New Mil ford, 

 where he exchanged his tiade for business enter- 

 His industry, ability, aud integrity won a rap- 

 id and steady rise from his humble condition. Hav- 

 ing been early attentive to mathematics, he l 

 county surveyor in 1745, and in 1748 began to fur- 

 nish the astronomical calculations for a New York 

 almanac. He studied law iu his leisure hours, was 

 ndinitted to the bar, 17f>4, and the next year was 

 made justice of the peace and sent to the Connecticut 

 assembly. In 1759 he was appointed judge of the 

 Litchfieid county court. Removing to New Haven 

 in 1701, he became a county judge iu 17G5, treas- 

 urer of Yale College the same year, and in the rc\t 

 nn assistant or member of the Upper house. This 

 post he held till 1785, and that of judge of the su- 

 perior court, 1760-89. His character and position 

 made him a leader in the struggle for liberty. S. nt 

 to the Continental Congress in August, 1774, lie was 

 a member of many important committees, including 

 that which drafted the Declaration. He was no ora- 

 tor, but his business ability, good sense, uprightness, 

 and solidity made him respected and useful, and 

 his congressional career lasted to the end of his life. 

 During the war he was active on the Connecticut 

 committee of safetv, and in 1783, with Judge Rich- 

 ard Law, revised tiie State statutes. He was mayor 

 of New Haven from 1784 tolas death. As a mcn.l.er 

 of the constitutional convention of 17.S7 he remit red 

 very important sen-ices, taking a prominent part in 

 the debates, nnd offering suggestions which were in- 

 eorj>orated in the document. He expounded and en- 

 forced the Constitution in jwipers signed "Citizen," 

 and urged its ratification in the Connecticut conven- 

 tion assembled for that purpose, of which he \\as a 

 leading member. In Congress, February, 17!*0, he 

 supported an address presented by Quakeis against 

 the African slave tiadc, and secured its reference to 

 a committee. He was elected to the U. S. Sei.atc. 

 1791, and died at New Haven, July tilt, 17'.!.'t. Ma- 

 con credited him with supreme common-sense, and 

 Jefferson declared that lie "never said a fochsh 

 thing." Senators G. F. Hoar and W. M. Kvarts are 

 descended from him. 



MILKMAN. THOMAS WIST (1813- -1879), general, 

 was born at Ncwpolt, Khode Island. March 2(1. 181U. 

 In l.s::t'i lie graduated nt West Point Military Acad- 

 emy, and was ap]Miiiited to the Third Artillery, with 



which he served in Florida till 1H41!. having 1 n 



appointed 1st lieutenant in March, 1SH8. He \MIS 

 then assigned to recruiting and garrison service till 

 isiCi, when he wo* engaged ns captain iu the Mexi- 

 can war. and for "gallant and ritorions conduct 



at Buena Vista" was I. revetted nmjor, Feb. '2'.\, 1*17. 

 From 1848 till lKt',1 he was again on garrison nnd 

 fronli) r duty, being specially employed in i|nelling 

 the Kansas "bolder disturbances, and in the com- 



