Why is general William Tecumseh famous?

Answer 1

In general folklore, he is chiefly remembered for his March to the Sea (Atlanta to Savannah) in Nov./Dec. 1864 - a series of punitive raids that got him identified with savage brutality.

In fact, this campaign managed to shorten the war by many months, at almost nil casualties. The destruction of the farms and railroads wrecked the Southern economy and reduced the Confederate troops to rags and starvation, making surrender inevitable.

Actual violence against civilians had been strictly forbidden by Sherman, and where this did happen, it was mostly not at the hands of his own men, but the mounted outlaws who rode alongside the army for the pickings.

His burning of Atlanta and Columbia (South Carolina) has been criticised as deliberate vandalism, though either or both of these could have been accidental.

His image was not helped either by his appearance or his voice, which suggested a crude and insensitive soldier. He was in fact a surprisingly well-educated man (as his memoirs demonstrate), as well as a genuinely creative strategist, on whom U.S. Grant depended heavily.

Military historians have often classified him as the first modern General, his March to the Sea being a precursor of the bombing raids over big cities, or Total Warfare.