By Don Rittner
Buried at Oakwood Cemetery is the most successful Civil War commander on either side of the conflict, yet heÕs rarely mentioned with the names of Grant or Lee, and not even listed in some modern American history textbooks. Ironically, George Henry ÒPapÓ Thomas, Virginia-born, was so methodical in his approach to war that his superiors considered him Òslow.Ó
Born in Southampton, Virginia, on July
31, 1816, he considered law before entering West Point. His roommate was William Sherman. In 1840, Thomas graduated 12th
in his class and commissioned second lieutenant in the Third Regiment of
Artillery, and four years later to first lieutenant after distinguished service
in the Seminole War. Three years
later, he became only one of two men in his cadet class to earn three brevets
(in seven years) as he catapulted to captain and then to major after
distinguished services during the battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista (Mexican
War).
In 1851, as an instructor of cavalry and
artillery at West Point, he taught cavalry tactics to Phil Sheridan and J.E.B.
Stuart, and artillery tactics to John B. Hood. A year later, he married
Frances Lucretia Kellogg of Troy. She traveled with him to the Texas
frontier, but was alone during the entire Civil War. Thomas took no leave
during the entire conflict.
Ironically, ThomasÕs student John Hood
would prove he wasnÕt paying attention in class later at Nashville in 1864.
After serving as commanding officer at
Fort Yuma in 1855, where he also conducted zoological studies, and compiled a
native dictionary, he was promoted to major in the regulars and ordered to the
elite Second Regiment of Cavalry. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis
appointed the best southern officers to this regiment, nicknamed "Jeff
Davis' Own." under Col. Albert Sidney Johnston and his executive officer
Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee, in anticipation of the Civil War. The regiment produced
eleven generals for the Confederacy.
The year before the start of the War,
Thomas was wounded by an arrow leading a cavalry charge fighting Commanches at
Clear Fork of the Rio Brazos in Texas.
When the War began, Thomas stayed with
the Union. It cost him dearly. His
sisters disowned him (even after the war) and his home State of Virginia took
his property. His payback? He
never lost a battle while he was in command.
Commissioned as a brigadier general,
Thomas went to Kentucky and won the battle of Mill Springs (January, 1862),
considered the first important Union victory in the war. He served under Don
Carlos Buell and William Rosecrans taking part in the battle of Stones River
(January, 1863). His most famous battle took place on September 20, 1863, when
William Rosecrans made a serious tactical blunder at Chickamauga. He opened up
a gap in the Union Army lines. Rosecrans and his men fled to Chattanooga, but
Thomas held his position and earned the nickname ÒRock of Chickamauga.Ó Today,
this tactic is one of the basic tenets of the U.S. Marines' assault doctrine.
Thomas was immediately promoted to brigadier general and succeeded Rosecrans as
commander of the Army of Cumberland, serving under Ulysses S. Grant. Thomas
joined William Sherman and destroyed the Confederate Army in Tennessee.
Confederate President Davis replaced
Johnson with ThomasÕ former student John Hood. Hood went after Thomas and his
men at Peachtree Creek. Grant had
threatened to relieve Thomas for not attacking when he was ordered and was
accused of being slow (Sherman commented that Thomas was "slow, but true
as steel"). Hood was badly beaten and lost 2,500 men. Two days later Hood
took on Sherman at the Battle of Atlanta and lost another 8,000 men
Hood continued in Tennessee and
surrounded Thomas at Nashville. On December 15, 1864, Thomas broke out of
Nashville and decimated HoodÕs troops. Thomas captured 4,462 soldiers and the
rest fled into Mississippi and Alabama. The Confederate Army in Tennessee had
now been completely destroyed. This is considered one of the most decisive
victories of the war.
On January 16, 1865, Thomas was promoted to the rank of major general and became commander of the Department of Tennessee. Four years later, he moved to the Department of the Pacific. He died in office at age 54 from a stroke in San Francisco on March 28 1870. He was buried with military honors in Troy at Oakwood on April 8, 1870. President Grant, General Sherman, General Hooker, and many other dignitaries were present. An equestrian statue of General Thomas was unveiled in Washington, D.C., on November 19, 1879. His wife died not far from that statue. In 1890-91, a $5 Treasury note was issued with his image on it. Ft Thomas, Kentucky is named for him, and Kate Brownlee Sherwood (1841-1914) wrote a poem entitled ÒThomas At Chickamauga.Ó
On a web site depicting his gravesite at
Oakwood, an anonymous writer left the following on September 9, 2004:
ÒThanks for betraying your state and the South in it's hour of need. I know now
why you rest so far from your betrayed soil of Virginia.Ó
For some the war continues.