Reel Five : Letters of Ellen Ewing Sherman to W.T. Sherman (July, 1863-1888).

This reel continues and completes the interesting and informative letters written to her husband by Ellen Ewing Sherman until her death on Nov. 28, 1888.

Reel Six : Items Relating to the Sherman Children -- Mary Elizabeth Sherman; William Tecumseh Sherman, Jr.; Eleanor Mary Sherman Thackara; Rachel Ewing Sherman Thorndike; Maria Ewing Sherman Fitch; and Thomas Ewing Sherman (1863-1874).

The groupings on this reel apparently were established initially by Eleanor Sherman Fitch. Each grouping includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence as well as various other items through the year 1891 relating to the particular individual whose papers they form. Material concerning Mary Elizabeth Sherman. William Tecumseh Sherman, Jr., who died on Oct. 10, 1863, at the age of nine, Eleanor Mary Sherman, who on May 5, 1880, married Alexander Montgomery Thackara, and Rachel Ewing Sherman, who on Dec. 30, 1891, married Paul Thorndike is sparse. The first extensive series, ranging from 1854 through 1891, relates to Maria Ewing Sherman, known affectionately as "Minnie," who on Oct. 1, 1874, in an elaborate Washington cermony married Thomas William Fitch. Included is an extensive amount of correspondence with her mother, a substantial amount of correspondence with her grandfather, Thomas Ewing, in whose home in Lancaster, Ohio, she spent her early years while the rest of the Sherman family were residing in California. The final grouping on this reel features material for the years 1863 through 1874 relative to Thomas Ewing Sherman. Included are the early letters in the extensive correspondence between Tom and his father. This correspondence is especially revealing because of the frankness with which the General wrote to this son in whom his hopes for the future of the family were centered after the death of Willy.

Reel Seven : Items Relating to the Sherman Children -- Thomas Ewing Sherman (1875-1891) and Philemon Tecumseh Sherman (1875-June, 1881).

The great bulk of the Thomas Ewing Sherman material is to be found on this reel. The correspondence between Tom and his father becomes much more frequent with the former's attendance at Yale University (1874-1876) to complete his final two years of college. The extent and the importance of that correspondecne did not diminsh with Tom's graduation from Yale, for in the succeeding year he proceeded to St. Louis for the Study of law. While there, his father entrusted him with the care of the Sherman property in St. Louis. This naturally necessitated a good deal of correspondence between the two. Upon the son's decision in May of 1878 to enter the Jesuits and become a Roman Catholic priest -- an act which the General construed to be a desertion of the family -- the correspondence between the two and, indeed, the material relating to Tom become quite meager. The remainder of the reel features early papers relating to Philemon Tecumseh Sherman, the youngest of the Sherman children.

Reel Eight : Items Relating to the Sherman Children -- Philemon Tecumseh Sherman (July, 1881 - June, 1891).

The great bulk of the Philemon Tecumseh Sherman Papers is to be found on this reel. They consist of both incoming and outgoing letters as well as various other items, and they include an extensive and interesting correspondence with his parents. The correspondence with his mother, Ellen Ewing Sherman, becomes quite frequent with Philemon's attendance at Yale University (1886-1888). Thereafter, the material becomes rather scanty until 1891 when, upon his father's death, young Philemon was burdened with the task of administering the estate.

Reel Nine : Items Relating to the Sherman Children -- Philemon Tecumseh Sherman (July-Dec., 1891); Items from the Philemon B. Ewing Papers in the Ewing Family Collection (1849-1891); and John Sherman Papers (1847-1891).

The remainder of the Philemon Tecumseh Sherman material, with which the reel begins, concerns mainly the settlement of his father's estate. The major portion of the reel features items of correspondence withdrawn for filming as part of this microfilm publication from the Philemon B. Ewing Papers in the Ewing Family Collection at the University of Notre Dame Archives. Philemon, a successful lawyer and judge, was the brother of Ellen Ewing Sherman and had been the boyhood comrade of William Tecumseh. Consulted frequently on matters of business by the latter, he was also often the confidant of the former. These letters, the overwhelming majority of which are from either William or Ellen, are, therefore, of considerable importance. The final series of items on this reel features Papers of John Sherman, a younger brother of William Tecumseh Sherman. Born on May 10, 1823, John was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in May, 1844, married Margaret Sarah Cecelia Stewart on Aug. 31, 1848, and served as a member of the House of Representatives from Ohio from March, 1855, to March 1861, at which time he took a seat in the Senate. In 1877 he resigned that seat and entered President Hayes' Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury, a post he held until 1881. He again served as Senator from Ohio from 1888 until 1897, at which time he resigned to enter President McKinley's Cabinet as Secretary of State. The latter post he retained only until April 25, 1898, when he resigned in a dispute over foreign policy. He died on Oct. 22, 1900. Unfortunately, the material concerning him in the Sherman Family Collection is rather scanty, consisting mainly of scattered items of correspondence and a number of cancelled checks. It does not include the correspondence between John and his brother, William Tecumseh, which was subsequently edited and published by Rachel Sherman Thorndike in The Sherman Letters (New York, 1894).

Reel Ten : Papers of General Thomas Ewing from the Yonkers Collection of Thomas Ewing (1831-1882); and Miscellaneous Drafts and Copies of Articles, Letters, Speeches and Reports (1859-1890).

The first series of items on the reel, the Papers of General Thomas Ewing, although forming a part of the William Tecumseh Sherman Family Papers as they were deposited in the University of Notre Dame Archives by Eleanor Sherman Fitch, does not have any direct and immediate relation with the William Tecumseh Sherman family. Instead, they concern various aspects of the public and private life of Thomas Ewing, the brother of Ellen Ewing Sherman. Born on Aug. 7, 1829, Tom Ewing was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1855. On Jan. 8, 1856, he married Ellen Cox. That same year he and his wife moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he combined the practice of law with various political activities. In 1861 he was chosen to be the first Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, an office he retained until September, 1862, when resigned in order to join the Union Army. After a successful army career which saw him promoted to the rank of major-general, he resumed the practice of law. A leader of the Greenback wing of the Democratic Party and a member of the House of Representatives from Ohio, in 1879 he was defeated in a bid for the governorship of Ohio. In 1881 he retired from Congress and moved to New York City where he practiced law until his death on Jan. 21, 1896. With the second and final series of items on this reel we return to material having a direct relationship with Willam Tecumseh Sherman. Included in this series of letters pertaining mainly to Sherman's tenure as superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning. Following these manuscripts in chronological order are such diverse items as: copies of letters on such subjects as the criticism levelled at Sherman for his conduct at the Battle of Shiloh by Lieutenant Governor Benjamin Stanton of Ohio, reconstruction, and reorganization of the army; a draft proposed by Sherman for the report of the Indian Peace Commission in 1868; drafts of several speeches; a draft for Sherman's Report of Nov. 10, 1880, as General of the Army; and a draft for the an article on California which appeared in the North American Review for March, 1889. The two manuscripts relative to Sherman's tenure at the Seminary of Learning, with which this series begins, apparently were prepared for Sherman with a view to publication. Although each of these manuscripts contains copies of many of the same letters, both have been filmed because each also contains letters not repeated in the other. Each also contains some items not among those which were subsequently edited and published by Walter L. Fleming in his General W.T. Sherman as College President (Cleveland, 1912).

Reel Eleven : Financial Papers; Papers Relating to Sherman Property, and Miscellaneous Legal Documents.

Featured on this reel are a booklet listing subscribers to a July, 1865, testimonial to General Sherman, ledger covering the years 1868 through 1890, a cash memoranda book spanning the years 1874 through 1890, five bankbooks, a large number of cancelled checks drawn by W.T. Sherman, a number of receipts for taxes paid on property ni St. Louis, and, finally, a group of papers consisting of legal agreements, deeds, title searches, descriptions of property, and items related to the settlement of the estate of William Tecumseh Sherman.

Reel Twelve : Diaries and Related Items of W.T. Sherman.

The first diary on this reel covers the span from November, 1843, to March, 1845. This is followed by diaries for the years 1858-1861, 1865-1867, and 1887-1890. Although giving a fairly good indication of Sherman's whereabouts at various times, these diaries contain many blank pages (not filmed), and many of the entries that do exist are often very brief. Following the diaries are: a book listing Sherman's dinner engagements for the period from Oct. 16, 1879, to Oct. 25, 1883; a book of memoranda for the years 1879 through 1886 consisting mainly of names and addresses; a list of the field and staff of the First Battalion of the Thirteenth United States Infantry which Sherman commanded in 1863; and a log of distances between various points in western United States compiled apparently sometime between May and September, 1866.

Reel Thirteen : Diaries and Related Items of Ellen Ewing Sherman.

The first diary on this reel is for the year 1854. There follow diaries for 1855, 1860, 1861, 1863-1870, 1872, 1873, 1879, 1880 and 1883. The entries are sometimes quite full but frequently very brief, and many of the diaries contain lengthy gaps between entries. Only those pages bearing entries have been filmed. Two brief items complete the reel. The first is a sketch written by Ellen of her oldest son, Willy, who died on Oct. 10, 1863, at the age of nine; the second, entitled "Recollections for My Children," was composed by Ellen on Oct. 28, 1880, and recalls various episodes from her youth.

Reel Fourteen : Additional Diaries and Related Items.

The first series on this reel consists of items belonging to Thomas Ewing Sherman and includes: an account book for the year 1869; an extensive diary for the year 1872; an account of an inspection tour from St. Louis to Walla Walla in the summer of 1877 upon which Tom accompanied his father and General Sheridan; and a scrapbook containing various souvenirs, clippings, and manuscript letters, all of which have been filmed in sequence in which they appear in the book without regard to chronology. The next grouping is of items belonging to Philemon Tecumseh Sherman and includes: a resume of his life from 1880 to 1905; diaries for 1889 and 1890; a narrative of the summer of 1890; a diary for 1891; a typed copy of his "Reminiscences of Early Days" drawn up for family use in 1940; and a typed copy of a brief memorandum on General Sherman's uniforms. These are in turn followed by a number of items belonging to Minnie Sherman Fitch. Included are a typed copy of a memorandum by Minnie on Washington Society of 1869-1870, her "Album of the Heart," and a typed copy of a tribute to Ellen Ewing Sherman drawn up in 1892. The final two items on the reel are several pages from the diary of Mary Elizabeth Sherman concerning the last illness and death of her father, and a typed copy of a brief account of the boyhood of Philemon B. Ewing and William Tecumseh Sherman composed around 1932 by Philemon's daughter, Ellie Ewing Brown.

Reel Fifteen : Scrapbook of Letters Received upon the Publication of Ellen Ewing Sherman's Memorial of Thomas Ewing; Items Relating to the Death of Ellen Ewing Sherman; and Items Relating to the Death of William Tecumseh Sherman.

The first series on this reel consists of a scrapbook of letters of commendation received by Ellen Ewing Sherman upon her publication in 1873 of a memorial to her father. These letters have been filmed exactly as they appear in the scrapbook without regard to chronology. They were also filmed with the microfilm edition of the Thomas Ewing Papers in the Ewing Family Collection. The second series comprises messages of condolence received upon the death on Nov. 28, 1888, of Ellen Ewing Sherman. Removed from an adhesive letter and invoice file, the binding of which obscured portions of the messages, they, nevertheless, have been filmed exactly as they appeared in that file without regard to chronology. The final two groups of items on this reel and in this microfilm publication were occasioned by the death of Willam Tecumseh Sherman on Feb. 14, 1891. The first of these consists of orders by various veterans' posts. Again, in filming, the items have been taken as they were bound without regard to chronology. The second and final grouping features various messages of condolence received by the family. These had been left unbound and, consequently, have been filmed in chronological order.