Sherman retired from public life after resigning as Secretary of State.
Except for one day, Sherman had spent the previous forty-two years, four months, and twenty-two days in government service.
He gave a few interviews in which he disagreed with the administration's policy of annexing Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
Later that year, his wife, Margaret, had a stroke; she died two years later on June 5, 1900.
Sherman continued to alternate between houses in Mansfield and Washington.
He mostly remained out of politics, except for a letter he wrote endorsing George K. Nash for Governor of Ohio in 1899.
Sherman died at his Washington home on October 22, 1900, in the company of his daughter, relatives and friends.
After a funeral at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, he was interred in Mansfield City Cemetery with his wife.

Sherman was not unmindful of his legacy and left $10,000 in his will for a biography to be written "by some competent person".
Two biographies were published shortly after that, but neither mentions the bequest.
In 1906, Congressman Theodore E. Burton of Ohio published a biography; two years later, former Representative Winfield S. Kerr of Mansfield published another.
Both were very favorable to Sherman.
A scholarly biography was said to be in preparation in Allan Nevins's "American Political Leaders" series of the 1920s and 1930s, to be written by Roy Franklin Nichols and his wife, Jeanette Paddock Nichols, but the work was never completed.
Jeanette Nichols later published several articles on Sherman in the next few decades, but he still awaits a full-length scholarly biography.
He is most remembered now for the antitrust act that bears his name.
Burton, in summing up his subject, wrote:
It is true that there was much that was prosaic in the life of Sherman, and that his best efforts were not connected with that glamour which gains the loudest applause; but in substantial influence upon those characteristic features which have made this country what it is, and in the unrecognized but permanent results of efficient and patriotic service for its best interests, there are few for whom a more beneficial record can be claimed.
Sherman retired from public life after resigning as Secretary of State. Except for one day, Sherman had spent the previous forty-two years, four months, and twenty-two days in government service. He gave a few interviews in which he disagreed with the administration's policy of annexing Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Later that year, his wife, Margaret, had a stroke; she died two years later on June 5, 1900. Sherman continued to alternate between houses in Mansfield and Washington. He mostly remained out of politics, except for a letter he wrote endorsing George K. Nash for Governor of Ohio in 1899. Sherman died at his Washington home on October 22, 1900, in the company of his daughter, relatives and friends. After a funeral at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, he was interred in Mansfield City Cemetery with his wife.
Sherman was not unmindful of his legacy and left $10,000 in his will for a biography to be written "by some competent person". Two biographies were published shortly after that, but neither mentions the bequest. In 1906, Congressman Theodore E. Burton of Ohio published a biography; two years later, former Representative Winfield S. Kerr of Mansfield published another. Both were very favorable to Sherman. A scholarly biography was said to be in preparation in Allan Nevins's "American Political Leaders" series of the 1920s and 1930s, to be written by Roy Franklin Nichols and his wife, Jeanette Paddock Nichols, but the work was never completed. Jeanette Nichols later published several articles on Sherman in the next few decades, but he still awaits a full-length scholarly biography. He is most remembered now for the antitrust act that bears his name. Burton, in summing up his subject, wrote:
It is true that there was much that was prosaic in the life of Sherman, and that his best efforts were not connected with that glamour which gains the loudest applause; but in substantial influence upon those characteristic features which have made this country what it is, and in the unrecognized but permanent results of efficient and patriotic service for its best interests, there are few for whom a more beneficial record can be claimed.
John Sherman