See date in last graph if this doesn’t run 3-28

SHERMAN PAINTING HEADED HOME

AVV 3-21 #732996

LANCASTER, OHIO (AP) — After being lost for 25 years, a rare portrait of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman is on its way back to his family’s central Ohio home.

The Union general appears young and wears civilian garb in the painting stolen in a 1982 burglary at what is now the Sherman House Museum in Lancaster. It didn’t resurface until last November, when the local heritage association and the Ohio Historical Society learned that the portrait was about to be offered at an auction north of Columbus, in Delaware.

Lancaster police recovered the painting, and it has undergone a restoration to remove dirt, grime, old varnish and paint that was added in a previous makeover.

Sherman’s likeness will make its official return to the museum in a ceremony on March 29.