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'Ohio's Sherman House Museum displays humanity, artistry of fearsome Civil War general

[FoxNews] Gen. Sherman born in Ohio, lost father at age 9, patron of theater, 'Uncle Billy' to his men.

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman lives on as a larger-than-life figure in the oft-told annals of American military history.

The most intimate and unknown details of the man behind the legend are uncovered at the Sherman House Museum in Lancaster, Ohio.

It opens for the season today, Wednesday, April 10.

"Sometimes we turn these heroes, like we’ve done with George Washington, almost into gods. I think that does a disservice to them," Michael Johnson, director of the Sherman House Museum, told Fox News Digital.

"I think it needs to be presented that these were ordinary people who did extraordinary things when the moment came, and that’s what set them apart."

Sherman was born in the home in 1820 and lived there until his father died when the future West Point cadet and U.S. Army legend, one of 11 children, was just 9 years old.

The general has long been remembered as a fearsome military commander, which included a notorious reputation in the American south.

But the legend of the warrior overshadows the thoughtful artist discovered at the Sherman House Museum: patron of the theater, Renaissance man and beloved old commander called "Uncle Billy" by his men long after the war.

The museum displays a copy of Sherman's brilliant illustration, "Death of Centaur," which he drew while a cadet at the United States Military Academy.