She married William Tecumseh "Cump" Sherman in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 1850, in a ceremony attended by
President Zachary Taylor and other political luminaries. The Shermans, who often lived apart even before the Civil War due to Sherman's military career, had eight children together, two of whom (Willie and Charles) died during the war. Although women did not have the right to vote in her day, Ellen declared herself to favor
Abraham Lincoln in advance of the 1860 elections and was fierce in her
pro-Union sentiment. During the
Civil War, in addition to her husband, three of her four then-living brothers became Union generals:
Hugh Boyle Ewing,
Thomas Ewing, Jr., and
Charles Ewing. In addition, Ellen worked to protect her husband's military standing during the war, especially in a January 1862 Washington meeting with Lincoln at a time when General Sherman's reputation was under a cloud due to newspaper charges of insanity. Like her mother, Ellen was a devout
Catholic and often at odds with her husband over religious topics. Ellen raised her eight children in that faith. In 1864, Ellen took up temporary residence in
South Bend, Indiana, to have her young family educated at the
University of Notre Dame and
St. Mary's College. One of their sons,
Thomas Ewing Sherman, became a Catholic priest. She also took an ongoing interest in Indian missions and was credited as the principal organizer of the
Catholic Indian Missionary Association. In "the most absorbing and monumental work of her life," Ellen played an active role in U.S. observances of the
Golden Jubilee of
Pope Pius IX (May 21, 1877) for which she later received the personal thanks of the Pope. Mrs. Sherman died in
New York City on November 28, 1888, survived by her husband and six of their children. She is buried in
Calvary Cemetery in
St. Louis, Missouri; her tombstone there identifies her as Eleanor Boyle Ewing Sherman. ==Family==