Eleanor Boyle Sherman

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Eleanor Boyle Sherman (Ewing)

Also Known As: "Ellen"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, United States
Death: November 28, 1888 (64)
New York, New York County, New York, United States
Place of Burial: 5239 West Florissant Avenue, St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, 63115, United States
Immediate Family:

Daughter of Senator Thomas Ewing, Sr. and Maria Wills Boyle
Wife of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman (USA)
Mother of Maria Ewing Fitch; Rev. Fr. Thomas Ewing Sherman, S.J.; Rachel Ewing Thorndike; Robert Otho Sherman; Eleanor Mary Thackara and 4 others
Sister of Philemon Beecher Ewing; George Ewing; Major General Hugh Boyle Ewing, (USA); Major General Thomas Douglas Ewing, (USA); Brig. General Charles Ewing, (USA) and 3 others

Managed by: Private User
Last Updated:

About Eleanor Boyle Sherman

Ellen Ewing Sherman (October 4, 1824 – November 28, 1888), was the wife of General William Tecumseh Sherman, a leading Union general in the American Civil War. She was also a prominent figure of the times in her own right.

She was born Eleanor Boyle Ewing in Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, the daughter of prominent Whig politician Thomas Ewing and Maria Boyle Ewing. Ellen's parents also raised her future husband, "Cump" Sherman, after the 1829 death of his own father.

Ellen Sherman died in New York City on November 28, 1888, survived by her husband and six of their children. She is buried alongside her husband in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri; her tombstone there identifies her as Eleanor Boyle Ewing Sherman.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6302573/eleanor-boyle-sherman

Contents

1 Accomplishments
2 Writings
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links

Accomplishments

Ellen was educated in Lancaster and Washington, D.C. She married "Cump" Sherman in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 1850, in a ceremony attended by President Zachary Taylor and other political luminaries. The Shermans, who often lived apart even before the Civil War, had eight children together, two of whom (Willie and Charles) died during the war.

Although women did not have the vote in her day, Ellen declared herself to favor Abraham Lincoln in advance of the 1860 elections and was fierce in her pro-Union sentiment During the Civil War, in addition to her husband, three of her four then-living brothers became Union generals—Hugh Boyle Ewing, Thomas Ewing, Jr., and Charles Ewing. In addition, Ellen worked to protect her husband's military standing during the war, especially in a January 1862 Washington meeting with Lincoln at a time when General Sherman's reputation was under a cloud due to newspaper charges of insanity.

Ellen was a devout Catholic and often at odds with her husband over religious topics. One of their sons, Thomas Ewing Sherman, became a Catholic priest. She also took an ongoing interest in Indian missions and was credited as the principal organizer of the Catholic Indian Missionary Association. In "the most absorbing and monumental work of her life," Ellen played an active role in U.S. observances of the Golden Jubilee of Pope Pius IX (May 21, 1877) for which she later received the personal thanks of the Pope.

Children:

  • Maria Ewing “Minnie” Sherman Fitch 1851 – 1913​, Buried: Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum, St. Louis, Missouri
  • ​Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Sherman 1852 – 1925​, Buried: Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum, St. Louis, Missouri
  • ​William Tecumseh “Willie” Sherman, Jr. 1854 – 1863​, Buried: Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum, St. Louis, Missouri
  • ​Rev. Thomas Ewing Sherman, S.J., PhD 1856 – 1933​, Buried: Jesuit Cemetery, Grand Coteau, Louisiana
  • Eleanor Mary Sherman Thackara 1859 – 1915​
  • ​Rachel Ewing “Rachey” Sherman Thorndike 1861 – 1919​, Buried: Central Cemetery, Beverly, Massachusetts
  • ​Charles Celestine Sherman 1864 – 1864​, Buried: Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum, St. Louis, Missouri
  • ​Philemon Tecumseh Sherman 1867 – 1941​, Buried: Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum, St. Louis, Missouri

view all 13

Eleanor Boyle Sherman's Timeline

1824
October 4, 1824
Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, United States
1851
January 28, 1851
Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, United States
1852
1852
1854
June 8, 1854
Lancaster, Fairfield Co., OH
1856
October 12, 1856
San Francisco, San Francisco County, California, United States
1859
September 5, 1859
Lancaster, Fairfield Co., OH
1861
July 5, 1861
Lancaster, Fairfield Co., OH
1864
June 11, 1864
Lancaster, Fairfield Co., OH
1867
January 9, 1867
Saint Louis, Saint Louis Co., MO