Cabinet Photograph of Gen. William T. Sherman, Signed on the Verso During His 1878 Tour of Military Posts in the West

Gen. William T. Sherman was the most creative and intuitively brilliant of all the high-ranking Union generals of the Civil War. He was groundbreaking as well, as he used the practice of total warfare during his signature “March to the Sea” campaign to bring the war home to the heart of the South. Sherman’s employment of this technique exposed the weakness of the Confederacy, and also earned him the lasting enmity of Southerners. Nevertheless, he epitomized the characteristics of a master tactician, and because of his warfare tactics, the Civil War ended with a Union victory much sooner than it would otherwise have.

After the Civil War, Sherman was Commanding General of the Army, a post he held from 1869–1883, focusing mainly on western expansion and Indian affairs, In 1878, Sherman went on a military inspection tour of the West, especially in Arizona and New Mexico Territories, visiting military posts and inspecting areas for infrastructure needs.

A beautiful cabinet photograph by Mora of New York, showing Sherman in uniform as Commanding General, inscribed and signed on the verso during his Western tour, “To Mrs. Land, with the compliments of William T. Sherman, General, Santa Fe, NM, August 30, 1878.”