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1. George H. Thomas and Politics in the Union
army at the Battle for Chattanooga by
, 12 Sept. 2000
Grant comes to Chattanooga with the express purpose of
creating the conditions for promoting Sherman and relegating Thomas and
Hooker to secondary roles at best. Shermans political allies will then
promote Grants career. As events unfold and Sherman cant bring off even
a semblance of a victory on his wing, Grant gets desperate and orders Thomas
to sacrifice part of his army in order to relieve the pressure on Sherman.
Thomas hinders the execution of the order until Hooker has begun to undermine
Braggs left flank. The most highly trained army of the day then does its
job and takes the ridge, whereupon Grant rewrites history so that it conforms
to a modfied version of his original plan. Article based upon McKinney
and Cozzens, but goes one logical step further. Mcfeely wrote on page 380
of his "Grant" biography that Grant "had outmaneuvered all the generals
who might have stepped in front of him during the war". Fortunately for
the nation this was true only politically. As the following article will
demonstrate, Thomas outmaneuvered Grant militarily, and Grant never forgave
him for it
.
2. Sherman and Grant vs. Thomas at Resaca
by 17 Sept. 2000
-
WORK IN PROGRESS
On May 7th, 1864 Sherman started his campaign to "break
up Joe Johnston's Army" as ordered by Grant. He could have won the war
in the West On May 9th, 1864! However, he refused to acknowledge
Thomass strategic and tactical superiority. Thomas had fought in the area
for three years. He knew it like the back of his hand and had in
fact drawn maps of the area. Secondarily (maybe primarily), Sherman was
not going to let Thomas overshadow again as he had done at Chattanooga.
So instead, Shermans ego or perhaps his unsettled mind allowed the conflict
to proceed, until Thomas finally Thomas ended it at Nashville, December
18th, 1864. During the entire Atlanta Campaign Sherman was content
to chase Johnston down the tracks. Thomas never quit trying to destroy
the Army of Tennessee.
.
3. 'Slow Trot' and other Thomas nicknames!
by
, 19 Sept. 2000
The nick name Slow Trot was used pejoratively by Sherman,
Grant and others to deprecate Thomas and his achievements. At times,
when Slow Trot was not thought forceful enough, it was reinforced by
additions such as, slow of mind, word and deed. How was the nickname
Slow Trot derived and what was its real meaning? Read on and youll
find out.
.
4. The Execution of Captain Jazeb R. Rhodes,
C.S.A.
by
Before the battle of Chattanooga Gen. Bragg, struggling
with outright rebellion from his top commanders, was aware of the corruption
within his army and the effect this had on the daily life of the soldiers
in his army. This report, based upon contemporary newspaper accounts, indirectly
bears witness to his concern for this problem and his attempts to deal
with it. Regardless of what Sam Watkins wrote, Bragg was not "a bad feeder".
Richmond assigned to the Army of Virginia the choice forage areas closest
to Bragg, and furthermore never granted Bragg the authority necessary to
establish a modern command structure in the Army of Tennessee - Bob Redman,
ed.
5. George H. Thomas, Practitioner of Emancipation
by , 5 Oct. 2000
As a boy Thoma gives family slaves bible and reading
lessons, his attitudes towards secession, views on slavery, use of colored
troops in general, doubts about their ability to sustain combat, his employment
of colored troops at Nashville, defense of colored troops after war, efforts
to integrate former slaves into economy while military governer of the
South. Lincoln was the great moral philosopher of the social revolution
of the 1860's, Thomas was its greatest practitioner. "...measuring him
by the sentiment of his country...he was swift, zealous, radical,and determined."
Thomas ought to be appreciated by black and white Americans, but he is
not even known to most people, being ignored or, at best, played down in
most popular treatments of American history.
6.The complete text of the 1882 biography The Life of Major General George H. Thomas (Part 1 pages 1-159;Part 2 pages 160-310; Part 3 pages 311-465) by Thomas Van Horne. In his 1875 History of the Army of the Cumberland, Van Horne had restrained himself, in keeping with Thomas's wish to avoid controversy. However, in his biography Van Horne, reacting to the crude polemics of the Grant apologists, took the gloves off. Compared to the mendacity of Badeau & co., Van Horne's occasional exagerations are mild. This book has not been reprinted since 1882, and you can not get it through interlibrary loan because it is falling apart. We are saving this book for posterity.
7. On the Causes of the Civil War, a short essay by , Oct. 2000
8. by ,
11 Nov. 2000
By August of 1862, the Union offensive into Tennessee
had bogged down. A new commander, William Starke Rosecrans, was put in
charge of the Union forces in Nashville to renew an advance the coming
spring. Rosecrans, an engineer by training, knew that he required the proper
logistical support to sutain a successful drive into the Southern Heartland.
When his overtures to Washington for an increase in engineers was refused,
Rosecrans developed his own units with the men he had on hand. Therefore
on November 3, 1862 by General Order #3, the Pioneer Brigade sprang to
life. And it was these handpicked men that lead Rosecrans' Army of
the Cumberland from Nashville to Chattanooga with musket as well as with
spade. In fact, it was the only unit to receive Congressional recognition
as a unit when reformed as the First United States Veteran Vounteer Engineers
in May, 1864. This is the story of those Pioneers.
9. A series of newspaper articles which Karl Marx wrote about the Civil War.
10. A brief treatment of the Spencer repeater
and other Civil War breechloading rifles by , Jan. 2001
About 40 different models of breechloading rifles and
carbines were introduced during the Civil War, but the 7-shot repeating
Spencer was the best and the most important of them. Its breech mechanism
was primitive compared to later mechanisms and required hand cocking of
the hammer, but it was reliable under abuse and adverse conditions. At
Hoover's Gap on 24 June 1863 the firepower it gave Wilder's Lightning Brigade
under Thomas completely overwhelmed Wheeler and Hardee and changed the
course of the war.
11. The Confederate Spin on Winfield
Scott and George Thomas (Southern Unionists) by Francis Macdonnell,
from , Civil War
History
The article deals more with Scott than with Thomas, but
it still offers many good insights about both. In addition, Macdonnell
documents what often happened to lesser known unionists in the South during
and after the war. Scott and especially Thomas only had their reputations
blackened.
12. Thomas shows he's no slacker in taking
the offensive by ,
first printed in the Washington Times on 8 Jan. 2000
Summary: It assuredly is especially tragic when
a soldier loses his life in a useless or mismanaged battle or campaign.
Fortunate indeed therefore were those who served under George Thomas, for
there was no more competent commander on either side, North or South, to
whom one could entrust one's life. He wasted no lives because he
made no significant mistakes, yet at the same time he accumulated a long
record of remarkable military achievement. In fact, Thomas appears
to be the only Civil War general on either side of whom this can be said.
This article reviews the facts and adds voice to those who argue for a
long overdue reevaluation of Thomas's record and place in history, in line
with what this remarkable man deserves.
13. (A Mid-life Crisis Adventure and Travel Essay) by
14. This space is waiting for your article
about the Army of the Cumberland (US) or the Army of Tennessee (CS).
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hue 20, sat 240, lum 210, red 255, green 223, blue 191