Thomas was born on March 26, 1813 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, the son of Elijah and Martha (West) Sherman. He was a descendant of Philip Sherman, who emigrated to America about 1633 and moved in 1638 to Rhode Island, where he settled at Portsmouth.
After attending the public schools, Sherman saw no prospect of further education, since his parents were in humble circumstances. He was graduated, July 1, 1836.
At eighteen, when his father disapproved of his centering his hopes on West Point and a soldier's career, he walked to Washington and appealed to President Jackson, who was so impressed by this show of determination and self-reliance that Sherman got his cadetship.
In 1836 he commissioned second lieutenant, 3rd Artillery. In 1838, after two years' active service in the Florida War, he became first lieutenant and served in the Indian Territory, assisting the Cherokee transfer. Then came four more years of the Florida hostilities, service at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, and recruiting duty.
Promoted captain in May 1846, he served with Taylor's army in the Mexican War, in which he commanded a battery at Buena Vista, rendered conspicuous service, and received the brevet of major. He served at Fort Trumbull, Connecticut, and Fort Adams, Rhode Island, from 1848 to 1853, when he was assigned to frontier duty in Minnesota. In 1857-58 he assisted in quelling the disturbances in Kansas.
Returning to Minnesota, he commanded an expedition to Kettle Lake in 1859 whereby the Sioux were restrained from war. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was ordered to duties in connection with the defense of Washington. He was promoted major and lieutenant-colonel in the regular army, and brigadier-general of volunteers in rapid succession, and was placed in charge of an expedition to take and hold bases on the southern coast for the use of the blockading fleet. He occupied Port Royal Harbor, South Carolina, after a naval bombardment, November 7, 1861, and later seized Bull's Bay, South Carolina, and Fernandina, Florida.
In 1862 he was assigned to the command of a division of Halleck's army, then operating against Corinth. His manner of exercising authority, however, resulted in complaints from some of his subordinates which led to his relief and assignment to the Department of the Gulf. After serving in command of troops above New Orleans from the fall of 1862 to January 1863, he commanded a division in the expedition against Port Hudson. On May 27, 1863, he was wounded while gallantly leading an assault on the Confederate works and afterwards lost his right leg by amputation.
Promoted colonel, 3rd Artillery, he returned to duty after nine months' sick leave in command of a reserve brigade of artillery and of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.
He was brevetted brigadier-general, United States Army, for gallant and meritorious service at the capture of Port Hudson, and major general of volunteers for like services during the war. He was mustered out of volunteer service in 1866. After the war he served in command of his regiment at different stations on the Atlantic seaboard until November 1870; soon afterward he was retired from active service as major-general.
He died at his home in Newport, Rhode Island, his wife's death having preceded his by a few days.
Thomas West Sherman sucessfully participated in Second Seminole War, Mexican-American War, American Civil War and was promoted to the rank of Brevet Major General (Brigadier General). He was highly appreciated for his professional command of the defenses of New Orleans, of the Southern Division of Louisiana, and of the Eastern District of Louisiana. After the war, Sherman joined the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
All his duties he performed with marked energy and efficiency in spite of his physical handicap. He was an officer of unquestioned ability, but his long career in the old regular army of the Indian frontier in some ways unfitted him for handling volunteers not inured to its iron discipline, and his ingrained training and positive personality sometimes produced friction that lessened the value of his military knowledge and experience. His management of this enterprise was marked by skill and judgment.
He married Mary, daughter of Gov. Wilson Shannon. They were the parents of a son, Wilson Shannon Sherman.
