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George H. Thomas, a very astute non-politician,
won every one of his engagements in the Civil War. For a book-length biography
of him go to the "Life of Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas"
by Van Horne.
George Henry Thomas was born on 31 July 1816
in Southampton County, VA and died on 28 March 1870 in San Francisco. A
graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY in 1840, George H.
Thomas served in the Mexican War (1846-48) and as an artillery and cavalry
instructor at West Point. Despite his Southern birth he remained loyal
to the Union when the Civil War broke out. In command of an independent
force in eastern Kentucky, Thomas defeated the Confederates under Crittenden
on 19 Jan. 1862 at Mill Springs and gained
the first important Union victory in the war, thus undermining the entire
western defense of the CSA general Albert Sydney Johnston. Thomas then
served under General Don Carlos Buell and arrilved too late at Shiloh
in order to participate in the second day of the battle. After the battle
Halleck put Thomas in command of Grant's Army of the Tennessee while Grant
was apparently sidelined as second in command under Halleck with no responsibility.
Later, when politically motivated complaints against Buell's lack of initiative
against Bragg become more and more strident, Thomas was offered but refused
the chief command. At the battle of Perryville
his 14th corps was not engaged. Bragg was forced to withdraw into East
Tennessee, but Buell was faulted for lack of pursuit, and he was replaced
by William S. Rosecrans. Under Rosecrans Thomas was instrumental
in holding the center with his artillery at Murfreesboro
(Stones River), Tenn. on 31 Dec. 1862 and 2 Jan. 1863. Thomas was in charge
of the most important part of the maneuvering during the Tullahoma
Campaign on 22-29 June 1863 and the entry into Chattanooga, Tenn. (8
Sept. 1863). On 19-20 Sept. 1863, after two days of battle along Chickamauga
Creek in Georgia 12 miles south of Chattanooga, General Thomas steadfastly
organized Union defenses after the collapse of the Union right wing and
withstood all afternoon long violent attacks on the left wing by the entire
Confederate army until the arrival of reserve units under Granger allowed
an orderly withdrawal of Union troops back to Chattanooga. For this action
Thomas was called the "Rock of Chickamauga" and later promoted to brigadier
general of the regular army (maintaining his rank of major general of the
volunteers). Thomas succeeded Rosecrans in command of the Army of the Cumberland
on 19 Oct. 1863. Thomas and his Army of the Cumberland played the determining
role in the great victory at Chattanooga
on 23-25 Nov. 1863. This battle opened the door to the deep South and made
possible the subsequent capture of Atlanta on
2 Sept. 1864 which helped assure Lincoln's reelection. Before Sherman's
march to the sea in the autumn of 1864, Thomas was ordered back to Nashville
to deal with the threat to Union communications by the Confederate forces
of General John B. Hood. Thomas had achieved his objective by Christmas,
checking the enemy army at Franklin, Tenn. on 30 Nov. 1864, and finally
at Nashville, Tenn. on 15-16 Dec. 1864. At
that historic battle, Thomas inflicted on Hood the worst defeat sustained
in the open field on either side during the war. It was also the only decisive
Union victory of the war in which the USCT played a meaningful role. Thomas
then directed the forces which captured
Selma and
pursued and captured Jefferson Davis on10 May 1865. Thomas was made a major
general of the regular army and received the thanks of Congress. Toward
the end of the war and afterward Thomas was the military governor in charge
of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Thomas wholeheartedly
supported the reconstruction policies of Lincoln and Johnson and is recognized
as being the most effective of all of the military governors. In 1869 Thomas
accepted the onerous command of the Division of the Pacific with headquarters
at San Francisco although his health had begun to deteriorate. He complicated
matters greatly for future biographers by destryoing all of his personal
papers, saying: "All that I did for my government are matters of hisotry,
but my private life is my own and I will not have it hawked about for the
amusement of the curious." He died at the age of 54 in his office in San
Francisco.
Further articles about Thomas:
1) Politics in the Union Army at the battle for Chattanooga
2) George H. Thomas - Practitioner of Emancipation
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.
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