Sherman served under General Grant in 1862 and 1863 during the march that led to the fall of the Confederate stronghold in Viksburg on the Mississippi River.
In 1864, Sherman succeeded Grant as commander of Union forces on the western front. With his troops he conquered Atlanta, and this success was compounded by the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln.
A later Sherman march through Georgia and the Carolinas (North and South Carolina) further diminished the Confederate's ability to continue the fight.
He accepted the surrender of all Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida in April 1865.
