[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 7: William Tecumseh Sherman

[Faraaz Damji]

   William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman,
   educator, and author.  He served as a general in the United States Army
   during the American Civil War (1861–65), receiving both recognition
   for his outstanding command of military strategy, and criticism for
   the harshness of his "scorched earth" policies while conducting total
   war against the enemy.  Military historian Basil Liddell Hart famously
   declared that Sherman was "the first modern general." In 1864, Sherman
   became the Union commander in the western theater of the war.  He
   proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of Atlanta.  His subsequent
   march through Georgia and the Carolinas further undermined the
   Confederacy's ability to continue fighting.  He accepted the surrender
   of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida
   in April 1865.  After the Civil War, Sherman became Commanding General
   of the U.S. Army (1869–83).  As such, he was responsible for the
   conduct of the Indian Wars in the western United States.  In 1875, he
   published his Memoirs, one of the best-known firsthand accounts of the
   Civil War.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tecumseh_Sherman


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Today's selected anniversaries:

1679:
   Le Griffon, a brigantine by René-Robert de LaSalle, became the first
   sailing ship to navigate the Great Lakes.
 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier%2C_Sieur_de_La_Salle)

1782:
   The Badge of Military Merit, the original Purple Heart, was
   established as a military decoration in the Continental Army.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart)

1947:
   An expedition led by Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific Ocean in 101
   days on his raft, Kon-Tiki.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl)

1965:
   Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman of the Federation of Malaysia
   demanded that Singapore withdraw from the federation, choosing to
   "sever ties with a State Government that showed no measure of loyalty
   to its Central Government."
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunku_Abdul_Rahman)

1998:
   The bombing of U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and
   Nairobi, Kenya killed over 200 people and injured over 4,500.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings)


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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

   vivacious: Lively and animated; full of life and energy.
   (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vivacious)


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Wikiquote of the day:

   Wikipedia is first and foremost an effort to create and distribute a
   free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single
   person on the planet in their own language.  Asking whether the
   community comes before or after this goal is really asking the wrong
   question: the entire purpose of the community is precisely this goal.
   -- Jimmy Wales
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales)