Sherman served as the superintendent of what would become LSU up until right before the war. He warned, begged and implored his compatriots in the south against embarking upon the route they did. Beauregard had a high enough regard for Sherman that he tried to recruit him to the confederate cause, which Sherman declined. Conf. General Joseph Johnston, Sherman's opposite in GA and the Carolinas held Sherman in high enough regard he served as pall bearer at Sherman's funeral, and per Wikipedia, "It was a bitterly cold day and a friend of Johnston, fearing that the general might become ill, asked him to put on his hat. Johnston famously replied: "If I were in [Sherman's] place, and he were standing in mine, he would not put on his hat." Johnston did catch a serious cold and died one month later of pneumonia."
I love learning this stuff from FR scholars.