Sheridan is the least known of the triumvirate of generals most
responsible for winning the Civil War. Yet, before Sherman's famous
march through Georgia, it was General Sheridan who introduced
scorched-earth warfare to the South, and it was his Cavalry Corps that
compelled Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Sheridan's
innovative cavalry tactics and "total war" strategy became staples of
twentieth-century warfare.
After the war, Sheridan ruthlessly
suppressed the raiding Plains Indians much as he had the Confederates—by killing warriors and burning villages—but he also defended
reservation Indians from corrupt agents and contractors. Sheridan, an
enthusiastic hunter and conservationist, later ordered the U.S. cavalry to
occupy and operate Yellowstone National Park to safeguard it from
commercial exploitation.
