Category Archives: William Tecumseh Sherman

“What Shall I Do?”

John Bidwell sent this letter to Annie in 1880, when he was in San Francisco and she was visiting her family in Washington, D. C.:             SF Aug 24, 1880 My Dear Wife By the bye. The President and General … Continue reading

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Sherman and Bidwell

I am currently reading Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, by Robert L. O’Connell. I recommend it to all you Civil War buffs out there, as well as anyone who wants to read a well-written biography of … Continue reading

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Why Did President Hayes Visit a “Backwater” Like Chico?

Larry commented on my previous post about bridges that “Someone asked me why these dignitaries came to a “backwater” place.” What was the president of the United States, the First Lady, Secretary of War Ramsey, General William Tecumseh Sherman, and … Continue reading

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Bidwell and Bridges

I have been puzzling over these two photos. Both come from CSUChico Meriam Library Special Collections, and both show John Bidwell standing with a group of people on a bridge. Where was the bridge? Who are the other people in … Continue reading

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First Meeting: John Bidwell and William Tecumseh Sherman

John Bidwell spent much of the 1840’s in California surveying land and mapping land grants for other men. It was during one of his surveying trips in 1847 that he met future Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman, he of … Continue reading

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