GENERAL WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN’S MAJOR GENERAL AND COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE U.S. ARMY SHOULDER STRAPS WITH PRESENTATION TO DAUGHTER MINNIE.

Major general shoulder strap with two stars. Commanding General of the U.S. Army shoulder strap with four stars. Each composed of black felt with heavy gold bullion borders trimmed on their inner/outer edges with jaceron. Both straps feature embroidered silver bullion star devices. Elegantly mounted on velvet in a shadowbox frame with an engraved plaque reading: “W.T. Sherman / 1865 / Minnie Sherman Fitch.”

An exquisite set of shoulder straps that once adorned the uniform of one of the greatest military commanders in American history, William Tecumseh Sherman. Originally gifted by Sherman to his eldest daughter Maria “Minnie” Ewing Sherman Fitch (1851-1913), these straps were retained in the family until now.

Though Sherman did first attain the rank of Major General of Volunteers in 1862, photographic evidence suggests the two-star strap dates to Sherman’s promotion to Major General of the Regular Army in August 1864. This would make itone of the two straps worn by Sherman during his Atlanta Campaign and iconic "March to the Sea."

The four-star strap can be pinpointed to the period between March 1869 and 1872. On 4 March 1869, Sherman assumed the rank of Commanding General of the United States Army. Appointed by his closest ally, President Ulysses S. Grant, Sherman became only the third General in United States history to wear four stars, joining Grant and George Washington.

This strap was used no later than 1872, at which point Sherman redesigned the rank's insignia to be two stars flanking a National Eagle.

The two straps were fixed carefully to dark velvet for formal presentation to Minnie by her father, an event memorialized by a delicately engraved silver plaque bearing their names and the important date “1865.” The presentation may have occurred in 1874 when Minnie married and took her husband Thomas William Fitch’s name. It was at this time that Sherman moved his headquarters to St. Louis to distance himself from political squabbles.

The inclusion of two straps of differing rank and the nature of the presentation suggests General Sherman made a similar gift to his other children.

Given the straps' undisturbed state following 150 years of venerable care by Sherman's descendents, this is a singular opportunity to acquire a significant relic of the legendary General’s legacy.

PROVENANCE: Along with all of the Sherman-related lots in this catalog, offered directly by the descendants of General William Tecumseh Sherman's daughter, Maria “Minnie” Ewing Sherman Fitch (1851-1913).

Condition: some tarnish.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Militaria, Generals, Presidents, Uniforms, Insignia]