William Tecumseh Sherman

1 8.4

A US general who led Union troops in the West and captured Atlanta by a destructive march to the sea

proper noun
/ˈwɪljəm tɛˈkʌmsə ˈʃɜrmən/

: William Tecumseh Sherman

The city of Atlanta fell to William Tecumseh Sherman before his famous march to the sea.

Examples

General William Tecumseh Sherman led the Union army during the Civil War.
William Tecumseh Sherman played a pivotal role in the Union victory during the American Civil War.
Many historians study the leadership tactics of William Tecumseh Sherman in the Western Theater.
Did William Tecumseh Sherman really say, 'War is hell'?
William Tecumseh Sherman is remembered for his strategic decisions that helped the Union secure victory in the American Civil War.
As the commander of Union forces, William Tecumseh Sherman executed a military campaign that included the capture of Atlanta.
William Tecumseh Sherman's tactics during the Civil War are often analyzed for their impact on modern warfare.

Surface Forms

William Tecumseh Sherman main

Morphology

William + Tecumseh + Sherman

This item is a full proper name composed of three personal names; the constituent words do not carry compositional semantic information about the referent (they are arbitrary labels). Recognizing that this is a historical US general requires world knowledge rather than deduction from the name, so a B1 learner who only knows the name components would not infer the meaning.

Etymology

William Tecumseh Sherman was a United States general in the Civil War who is best known for capturing Atlanta and leading a destructive 'March to the Sea'. Picture his soldiers destroying farms, railways and towns to cut the South's supplies, so his name is remembered for that harsh way of fighting and the Union victory.