by Jean Knill

Created on: August 28, 2010   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

The General Sherman Tree is said to be the largest tree in the world.  This claim is based on its volume of wood. At 275 feet, it is not the tallest, nor are the statistics of its base – over 30 feet across and 102.6 feet around – the greatest. But the volume of its trunk, at 52,500 cubic feet, is unsurpassed.

Scientists have recently been reconsidering the age of the living giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman. Their estimating techniques have changed over the years and become more accurate. While they used to believe it was between 5 to 6000 years old, the most recent theories place its age at little more than 2,000 years. Its size is apparently due to the fact that it grows so fast, not that it is particularly old.

The tree was named after one of the generals in the civil war. While his war tactics were ruthless, he is remembered for taking over command from General Grant, capturing Atlanta and then marching through Georgia and the Carolinas, crippling the Confederate army and bringing about the end of the war.  In his later career, as Commanding General of the US Army up to 1883, he oversaw the campaigns against the native Indian tribes, to bring communications and prosperity to western settlers.

As well as his famous tree, you can find memorial statues to the general at the main entrance to Central Park in New York, and close to Washington’s President Park. His final memorial is in the naming of the Sherman tanks first used by the British in World War II.

It is perhaps appropriate that the General Sherman Tree is located in the Sequoia National Park, which covers 632 square miles of the Californian edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This was the mountain range through which the Central Pacific Railway, protected by Sherman’s troops, was built. Undergoing great hardship and loss of life, work gangs broke through the mountains in 1868, to meet up with the Union Pacific and complete the transcontinental line.

Sherman’s tree has a number of lofty neighbors, including: the President, Chief Sequoyah, General Lee and McKinley Trees. You can get directions at the visitor center and see them all by following the paved two-mile Congress Trail.

Of course, your visit to Seqouia doesn’t have to be confined to seeing the trees. Plenty of other activities await, and they cater for every taste. You could choose longer hikes, wildlife watching, horse riding, cave visiting, fishing, campfires with the rangers,

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