Philip Sheridan

Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) is a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War.

His career is noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who had transferred Sheridan from command of an infantry division in the Western Theater to lead the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac in the East.

In 1864, he defeats Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and his destruction of the economic infrastructure of the Valley, called "The Burning" by residents, is one of the first uses of scorched earth tactics in the war.

In 1865, his cavalry pursues Gen. Robert E. Lee and is instrumental in forcing his surrender at Appomattox.

Sheridan prosecutes the later years of the Indian Wars of the Great Plains.

Both as a soldier and private citizen, he is instrumental in the development and protection of Yellowstone National Park.

In 1883 Sheridan is appointed general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, and in 1888 he is promoted to the rank of General of the Army during the term of President Grover Cleveland.

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