My grandfather was born in Stewart County, Ga., in 1867. So I’m sure he would argue with me on the point I’m about to make here – that America, today, needs somebody with the core character of  William Tecumseh Sherman.

I’ve written before in this space how we should be looking forward to a “restoration” of the U.S. government, back from the chaos and corruption of the Trump era to the vision of our Founders and their Constitution.  But we need more than a return to good governance. We need a good person as our national leader.

That’s why I’m drawn to Sherman. Yes, he had personality quirks and he muffed a couple of battles, but he had the qualities we need.  Like these:

First, he was not a vindictive man. He instinct was forgiveness and healing.    

For example, April 17, 1865. Lee has surrendered, and Lincoln has been assassinated. But Sherman’s army still faces Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’ formidable army in North Carolina.  Neither man wants to continue the fight, so they met, with Confederate Secretary of War, John Breckinridge, in Durham.  Sherman poured three glasses of bourbon, which the Confederates hadn’t tasted in months, and they discussed surrender.  Sherman retired to another table and wrote terms of surrender that he thought Lincoln would have wanted. He and Grant had met with Lincoln three weeks previous and had heard the president’s post-war intentions.  (The terms he gave were too lenient for Grant and had to be redone a week later.)

He hated the song, “Marching through Georgia,” because it gloated over a fallen enemy.  

Second, Sherman understood reality.  He planned and executed according to facts, not fantasy.  At times, he was prophetic. 

In December 1860, after South Carolina seceded, he said: You people of the South mistake the people of the North. They are…not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it…You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth….At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail…your cause will begin to wane.”

Third, he understood situations and their solutions. The war could, in fact, have gone on indefinitely as a series of battles, but Sherman saw that the war could be ended if the civilian population “realized the truth,” that the South could not win and stopped “being deceived by their lying newspapers.” So he marched across Georgia.  And the Georgia governor immediately asked for peace with the Union.

Fourth, he cared about the pain of ordinary people. In his March to the Sea, he ordered that the cavalry and artillery could seize what they needed, “discriminating, however, between the rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor or industrious, usually neutral or friendly.” And foraging parties “will endeavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for their maintenance.”

He showed his compassion even more after he completed the March. After a meeting with 20 black leaders in Savannah, he issued an order, which Lincoln approved, that expropriated 400,000 acres on sea islands from Charleston south into Florida, to be set apart “for the settlement of the negroes now made free.” (Andrew Johnson reversed the order after Lincoln’s assassination.)

When he and Grant met with Lincoln in March, it was Sherman who introduced the subject of reconstruction of the South.  More battles possibly lay ahead for him in North Carolina, but he thought ahead to healing.

My man, “Tump” Sherman.

As we review Sherman’s character traits, we’re struck immediately how our current president lacks them all.

Sherman won’t be on the ballot in November, in absentia, as it were. Our choice is between Trump and Biden. But I see Sherman there in spirit, hovering over the polling places, whispering, “Biden, Biden, Biden.” 

Joe Biden will be the wise man of healing America needs.  He’s more compassion and cooperation than competition, more kindness than confrontation.