At the end of July all the family went home to Lancaster and Sherman was soon sent to St. Louis. In September, 1852, he was sent thence to New Orleans. But he soon applied for and obtained a leave of absence, desiring to go to San Francisco with a view to settling there. So he sent his family back to Ohio and went himself to California by the way of Nicaragua. When he boarded the steamer bound from San Juan del Sur for San Francisco there was a great rush for state-rooms. Just as he had secured his, a lady who had been a fellow-passenger from New Orleans asked him to secure one for her and her lady friend. The purser answered that there was not another left, and so put down their names for the other two berths in Sherman's state-room, promising to make other arrangements as soon as the vessel was off. So down went the entry, "Captain Sherman and ladies." A few minutes later the purser gave Sherman a berth in another state-room, so that the two ladies had the room to themselves. At every meal the steward invited Sherman to bring "his ladies" to the table, and they had the best seats there. The two ladies were, Sherman says, the most modest and best behaved on the ship. But soon after his arrival at San Francisco he discovered that one of them at least--the one who had asked him to secure the state-room for her--was a notorious woman. It was a poor ship they travelled in, and the weather was foggy. In trying to make San Francisco harbor they ran aground, and Sherman went off in a small boat to reach the city and bring help. He came near getting drowned, but finally reached the city and sent back help to the stranded vessel. All the passengers were taken off and brought to the city in safety and the next night the ship went to pieces. Had even a slight storm arisen when they ran aground, probably not one of the passengers would have escaped. Sherman now went into business in San Francisco. In the summer of 1853 he returned East and took his family back to the Pacific coast. On September 6th he resigned his commission in the army and devoted himself earnestly to various business enterprises, but the unhealthy state of speculation disgusted him. Presently there was a financial panic, in which Sherman and those associated with him lost considerably. But he held on there with varying fortunes until the spring of 1857, when he returned with his family to New York. Again in 1858, he went to San Francisco and closed up his business there, making full payment of all dues and then after some experience in St. Louis and elsewhere, settled his family at Lancaster in the fall of 1859.