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| George Henry Thomas (National Archives) |
Allegiance: USA
Rank: Major General
Age: 56
State of Origin: Virginia
Command: XIV Corps
George Henry Thomas was born in Southampton County, Virginia in 1816. His family owned a sizeable plantation and nine slaves. Thomas grew up well-educated and later attended West Point. Thomas, and his roommate, William Tecumseh Sherman, graduated West Point in 1840. Upon his graduation, Thomas was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of the Third Artillery Regiment, stationed in Fort Columbus, New York. Leaving their cannons behind, the regiment was sent to Florida to fight the Seminoles. In 1844, Thomas was promoted to First Lieutenant and assigned to a battery of light artillery at Fort McHenry. In his company, Thomas served as a junior lieutenant under the senior lieutenant, Braxton Bragg, a man Thomas would later oppose during the Civil War.
In 1845, Thomas and his company were sent to Mexico and served under General Zachary Taylor. Thomas fought bravely throughout the Mexican War, earning him several brevet promotions, one requested by Zachary Taylor himself, and he became one of the most decorated junior officers in the U.S. Army.
After the Mexican War, and after a brief time back in Florida, Thomas was appointed an instructor of artillery and cavalry at West Point, recommended by Braxton Bragg in 1850. Some of the notable students he taught, who later served in the Civil War, included J.E.B. Stuart, Philip Sheridan, Alexander McCook, James McPherson, John Schofield, Oliver Otis Howard, and John Bell Hood, among many others. During his time at West Point, Thomas became close friends with Superintendent Robert E. Lee.
In 1852, Thomas was married to New Yorker Frances Kellogg. Soon after, Thomas was reassigned to California where he was in charge of Fort Yuma. He served there for a year, negotiating between the Yuma Indians and white settlers. In 1854, Thomas was commissioned a major in the newly formed Second Cavalry (created by Jefferson Davis), which served in Texas. Among those in the Second Cavalry were Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee, Major William Hardee, Captain Earl Van Dorn, Captain Edmund Kirby Smith, and Captain George Stoneman. Thomas fought against Kiowas and Comanches in Texas until the beginning of the Civil War.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Thomas had to make a tough decision to either fight for his native state of Virginia or for the country he had pledged his allegiance to. In the end, Thomas chose to stay true to his oath to the Union, something very few Virginians did. With so many of the officers in the Second Cavalry siding with the Confederacy, Thomas became its de facto commander. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in order to replace Robert E. Lee. Soon after he was promoted to Colonel to replace Albert Sidney Johnston.
In August 1861, Thomas was again promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and transferred to Kentucky. There he gathered and trained volunteers under the overall command of General Robert Anderson. Anderson later stepped down and was replaced by Thomas’s old roommate, Sherman. But Sherman did not stay for long and was transferred out of Kentucky. Replacing Sherman was General Don Carlos Buell. In September 1861, Thomas performed well at the Battle of Mill Springs.
In March 1862, after Thomas turned down the position, Buell was replaced by William Starke Rosecrans. Thomas served under Rosecrans throughout 1862 and 1863 against his old friend and superior officer, Confederate General Bragg. Thomas served well at the bloody Battle of Stones River in December 1862. After Stones River, the Army of the Cumberland followed Bragg and his Army of Tennessee in the Tullahoma Campaign. Bragg finally turned to face the Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863.
On the night of September 18, Rosecrans organized his battle lines and decided to move Thomas’s command, the XIV Corps, to the Union left. Thomas was able to move his men into position just in time for a Confederate flanking movement. After arriving at their position early in the morning on the 19th, Thomas sent out a brigade under the command of Colonel John T. Croxton to investigate what was in their immediate front. Croxton encountered Confederate cavalry and a skirmish began. Bragg sent two infantry brigades to support his cavalry. In response, Thomas sent Croxton reinforcements. The Battle of Chickamauga had begun.
A general engagement began between Thomas’s corps and the opposing Confederate forces, with Thomas set up in front of Lafayette Road, running north and south. A fierce battle was fought in the woods beyond the road all morning without either side gaining much ground. Thomas feared a flanking movement and wanted to extend his battle line north. In order to do so, he asked Rosecrans for reinforcements. When the reinforcements came, Thomas decided not to extend his line north but to reinforce parts of his battle line. As the day went on, the Confederates were able to push this line beyond the Lafayette Road. Night fell before Thomas could recapture the road.
As Thomas considered moving the line back to better ground, they were hit by a Confederate night attack. They were able to push Thomas and his corps back a half-mile. This was not a setback for Thomas, as this was where he was planning to withdraw. At this new position, on a small ridge, Thomas prepared his defenses. He personally rode up and down the lines overseeing the construction of breastworks. He also ordered the construction of breastworks on a hill behind their current position. Thomas still feared that Bragg would try another flanking movement and Thomas wanted to extend his line northward. He wired Rosecrans for reinforcements and Rosecrans wired back inviting Thomas to a council of war. During the council, Thomas was asleep. He would awake when Rosecrans asked him a direct question and he would say, “Strengthen the left,” then fall back to sleep.
The next morning Thomas inquired about his reinforcements and Rosecrans assured him that Negley’s division was on its way. A brigade from Negley’s division arrived just in time for the opening Confederate attack on the morning of the 20th. The Confederate attack failed, ruining Bragg’s plan for an echelon attack. Holding his ground all day, Thomas heard reports of Confederates behind Federal lines. He rode to see for himself and saw that it was true. Thomas concluded that the Federal lines further south must have broken, but he had not heard anything from Rosecrans all day. Thomas was in danger of being flanked from the south. Thinking quickly, he decided to form his defense on Snodgrass Hill, the hill Thomas had ordered breastworks to be built the night before.
Thomas rode to the hill where broken regiments and brigades from the breakthrough refused to retreat as Rosecrans and the rest of the army had. Thomas organized them and remnants of his corps into a battle line behind the breastworks built the night before. Soon the Confederates emerged from the woods and attacked uphill against their fortified position. Again and again, Thomas’s men repulsed waves of Confederates. Thomas rode up and down the lines, encouraging his men, as bullets from Confederate snipers whizzed past him. An officer on the hill recalled, “When it seemed we could not stand the shot and shell that were hurled at us in such showers and were about to give way, all the officers pitched in promiscuously to cheering and encouraging the men of all regiments alike. General Thomas would jump off his horse, swing his hat, rush among the men and encourage them by his own acts of valor.”
When General Granger arrived with reserve troops, Thomas put them in the line immediately. Granger’s arrival was just in time as the Confederates sent an entire division at that part in the line. Granger’s men repulsed them. At 3:30 the Confederates launched another wave of attacks and almost succeeded in driving Thomas from the hill. One soldier remembers, “Thomas drew his sword, rose in his stirrups, and rode among his men, shouting to them: ‘Go back! Go back! The hill must be held at all hazards!’ Riding up to the top with his sword flashing in the light, and his face expressive of determination, his words acted like magic.”
Thomas gained communication with Rosecrans who was retreating to Chattanooga. When Rosecrans heard that Thomas had stayed behind, he ordered Thomas to retreat to Rossville. However, Thomas ignored the order for the moment, determined to hang on until nightfall. But Thomas had a big problem. Cut off from supplies and reinforcements, his men were running out of ammunition. Their desperation was so bad that they were robbing the dead of ammunition between waves of attacks. Thomas realized that he could not stay and survive another attack. Reluctantly, Thomas withdrew one hour before nightfall.
As the men settled in camp at Rossville that night, Thomas again rode among his men. An officer remembers, “Someone said, ‘Here comes Pap Thomas,’ and the sleepy heads sprang to their feet and gathered around the ‘Old Hero’ and impeded his progress. He drew reins, and looking over the men, said: ‘Well, you don’t look so few; if it hadn’t have been for some unauthorized person to order our ammunition trains to the rear, we would be out there still.”
Thomas was credited with saving the Union Army from total disaster. For his heroics he was given the nickname, “The Rock of Chickamauga.” Lincoln wrote, “[N]othing could be more ungracious than to indulge any suspicion towards Gen. Thomas. It is doubtful whether his heroism and skill exhibited last Sunday afternoon, has ever been surpassed in this world.” This telegram was not given to Thomas until 1867.
After Chickamuaga, Rosecrans was replaced. Thomas took command of the Army of the Cumberland. But it was not an independent command, for Grant was sent to oversee his operations in Chattanooga. Bragg besieged the Union army in Chattanooga for two months, during which time he cut off their supply lines. In November, Thomas proposed a plan to reopen the supply lines. The plan was successful and the ‘Cracker Line’ across Moccasin Point brought much needed supplies to Chattanooga. Grant and Thomas did not get along well in Chattanooga. But despite their communication breakdowns, Thomas led a successful attack on Orchard Knob on November 23. On November 25, Thomas held the center of the Union line as they attacked the Confederates on top of Missionary Ridge. When Sherman was delayed, Thomas’s line was sent forward and he carried the hill, winning the day.
Thomas remained with Sherman during the beginning of the Atlanta Campaign in 1864. Thomas played a small part in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Separating from Sherman’s army, Thomas took his Army of the Cumberland back towards Tennessee. He faced Bragg’s replaced, John Bell Hood, at the Battle of Peachtree Creek.
Back in Nashville, Thomas prepared for Hood’s advance. After the Confederate defeat at Franklin in November 1864, Hood attacked Thomas’s position in Nashville. Thomas routed the Confederate force, effectively ending the Army of Tennessee.
During Reconstruction, Thomas was in charge of the District of Tennessee, which included five states. Later on, Thomas refused to take Grant’s position of General in Chief to President Johnson. Thomas also refused to run for president twice. His career ended in the West. He died of a stroke at age 53 in March 1870. Upon his death he ordered his papers to be burned, so Thomas’s voice is lost in the history that was written largely by Grant and Sherman.
Author: Shannon Rowe, January 28, 2015
Further Reading:
Christopher Einolf, George Thomas: Virginian for the Union. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. Pages 9, 24, 31-32, 36-37, 36-37, 55, 60, 62, 68-69, 73-75, 79, 93, 97, 101, 103-123, 124-139, 140-153, 162-164, 166-169, 174-176, 179-180, 182-183, 186-187, 197, 202-206, 213-217, 239, 247-248, 250-253, 257, 260-282, 295-325, 327, 333, 335.
In 1845, Thomas and his company were sent to Mexico and served under General Zachary Taylor. Thomas fought bravely throughout the Mexican War, earning him several brevet promotions, one requested by Zachary Taylor himself, and he became one of the most decorated junior officers in the U.S. Army.
After the Mexican War, and after a brief time back in Florida, Thomas was appointed an instructor of artillery and cavalry at West Point, recommended by Braxton Bragg in 1850. Some of the notable students he taught, who later served in the Civil War, included J.E.B. Stuart, Philip Sheridan, Alexander McCook, James McPherson, John Schofield, Oliver Otis Howard, and John Bell Hood, among many others. During his time at West Point, Thomas became close friends with Superintendent Robert E. Lee.
In 1852, Thomas was married to New Yorker Frances Kellogg. Soon after, Thomas was reassigned to California where he was in charge of Fort Yuma. He served there for a year, negotiating between the Yuma Indians and white settlers. In 1854, Thomas was commissioned a major in the newly formed Second Cavalry (created by Jefferson Davis), which served in Texas. Among those in the Second Cavalry were Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston, Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee, Major William Hardee, Captain Earl Van Dorn, Captain Edmund Kirby Smith, and Captain George Stoneman. Thomas fought against Kiowas and Comanches in Texas until the beginning of the Civil War.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Thomas had to make a tough decision to either fight for his native state of Virginia or for the country he had pledged his allegiance to. In the end, Thomas chose to stay true to his oath to the Union, something very few Virginians did. With so many of the officers in the Second Cavalry siding with the Confederacy, Thomas became its de facto commander. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in order to replace Robert E. Lee. Soon after he was promoted to Colonel to replace Albert Sidney Johnston.
In August 1861, Thomas was again promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and transferred to Kentucky. There he gathered and trained volunteers under the overall command of General Robert Anderson. Anderson later stepped down and was replaced by Thomas’s old roommate, Sherman. But Sherman did not stay for long and was transferred out of Kentucky. Replacing Sherman was General Don Carlos Buell. In September 1861, Thomas performed well at the Battle of Mill Springs.
In March 1862, after Thomas turned down the position, Buell was replaced by William Starke Rosecrans. Thomas served under Rosecrans throughout 1862 and 1863 against his old friend and superior officer, Confederate General Bragg. Thomas served well at the bloody Battle of Stones River in December 1862. After Stones River, the Army of the Cumberland followed Bragg and his Army of Tennessee in the Tullahoma Campaign. Bragg finally turned to face the Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863.
On the night of September 18, Rosecrans organized his battle lines and decided to move Thomas’s command, the XIV Corps, to the Union left. Thomas was able to move his men into position just in time for a Confederate flanking movement. After arriving at their position early in the morning on the 19th, Thomas sent out a brigade under the command of Colonel John T. Croxton to investigate what was in their immediate front. Croxton encountered Confederate cavalry and a skirmish began. Bragg sent two infantry brigades to support his cavalry. In response, Thomas sent Croxton reinforcements. The Battle of Chickamauga had begun.
A general engagement began between Thomas’s corps and the opposing Confederate forces, with Thomas set up in front of Lafayette Road, running north and south. A fierce battle was fought in the woods beyond the road all morning without either side gaining much ground. Thomas feared a flanking movement and wanted to extend his battle line north. In order to do so, he asked Rosecrans for reinforcements. When the reinforcements came, Thomas decided not to extend his line north but to reinforce parts of his battle line. As the day went on, the Confederates were able to push this line beyond the Lafayette Road. Night fell before Thomas could recapture the road.
As Thomas considered moving the line back to better ground, they were hit by a Confederate night attack. They were able to push Thomas and his corps back a half-mile. This was not a setback for Thomas, as this was where he was planning to withdraw. At this new position, on a small ridge, Thomas prepared his defenses. He personally rode up and down the lines overseeing the construction of breastworks. He also ordered the construction of breastworks on a hill behind their current position. Thomas still feared that Bragg would try another flanking movement and Thomas wanted to extend his line northward. He wired Rosecrans for reinforcements and Rosecrans wired back inviting Thomas to a council of war. During the council, Thomas was asleep. He would awake when Rosecrans asked him a direct question and he would say, “Strengthen the left,” then fall back to sleep.
The next morning Thomas inquired about his reinforcements and Rosecrans assured him that Negley’s division was on its way. A brigade from Negley’s division arrived just in time for the opening Confederate attack on the morning of the 20th. The Confederate attack failed, ruining Bragg’s plan for an echelon attack. Holding his ground all day, Thomas heard reports of Confederates behind Federal lines. He rode to see for himself and saw that it was true. Thomas concluded that the Federal lines further south must have broken, but he had not heard anything from Rosecrans all day. Thomas was in danger of being flanked from the south. Thinking quickly, he decided to form his defense on Snodgrass Hill, the hill Thomas had ordered breastworks to be built the night before.
Thomas rode to the hill where broken regiments and brigades from the breakthrough refused to retreat as Rosecrans and the rest of the army had. Thomas organized them and remnants of his corps into a battle line behind the breastworks built the night before. Soon the Confederates emerged from the woods and attacked uphill against their fortified position. Again and again, Thomas’s men repulsed waves of Confederates. Thomas rode up and down the lines, encouraging his men, as bullets from Confederate snipers whizzed past him. An officer on the hill recalled, “When it seemed we could not stand the shot and shell that were hurled at us in such showers and were about to give way, all the officers pitched in promiscuously to cheering and encouraging the men of all regiments alike. General Thomas would jump off his horse, swing his hat, rush among the men and encourage them by his own acts of valor.”
When General Granger arrived with reserve troops, Thomas put them in the line immediately. Granger’s arrival was just in time as the Confederates sent an entire division at that part in the line. Granger’s men repulsed them. At 3:30 the Confederates launched another wave of attacks and almost succeeded in driving Thomas from the hill. One soldier remembers, “Thomas drew his sword, rose in his stirrups, and rode among his men, shouting to them: ‘Go back! Go back! The hill must be held at all hazards!’ Riding up to the top with his sword flashing in the light, and his face expressive of determination, his words acted like magic.”
Thomas gained communication with Rosecrans who was retreating to Chattanooga. When Rosecrans heard that Thomas had stayed behind, he ordered Thomas to retreat to Rossville. However, Thomas ignored the order for the moment, determined to hang on until nightfall. But Thomas had a big problem. Cut off from supplies and reinforcements, his men were running out of ammunition. Their desperation was so bad that they were robbing the dead of ammunition between waves of attacks. Thomas realized that he could not stay and survive another attack. Reluctantly, Thomas withdrew one hour before nightfall.
As the men settled in camp at Rossville that night, Thomas again rode among his men. An officer remembers, “Someone said, ‘Here comes Pap Thomas,’ and the sleepy heads sprang to their feet and gathered around the ‘Old Hero’ and impeded his progress. He drew reins, and looking over the men, said: ‘Well, you don’t look so few; if it hadn’t have been for some unauthorized person to order our ammunition trains to the rear, we would be out there still.”
Thomas was credited with saving the Union Army from total disaster. For his heroics he was given the nickname, “The Rock of Chickamauga.” Lincoln wrote, “[N]othing could be more ungracious than to indulge any suspicion towards Gen. Thomas. It is doubtful whether his heroism and skill exhibited last Sunday afternoon, has ever been surpassed in this world.” This telegram was not given to Thomas until 1867.
After Chickamuaga, Rosecrans was replaced. Thomas took command of the Army of the Cumberland. But it was not an independent command, for Grant was sent to oversee his operations in Chattanooga. Bragg besieged the Union army in Chattanooga for two months, during which time he cut off their supply lines. In November, Thomas proposed a plan to reopen the supply lines. The plan was successful and the ‘Cracker Line’ across Moccasin Point brought much needed supplies to Chattanooga. Grant and Thomas did not get along well in Chattanooga. But despite their communication breakdowns, Thomas led a successful attack on Orchard Knob on November 23. On November 25, Thomas held the center of the Union line as they attacked the Confederates on top of Missionary Ridge. When Sherman was delayed, Thomas’s line was sent forward and he carried the hill, winning the day.
Thomas remained with Sherman during the beginning of the Atlanta Campaign in 1864. Thomas played a small part in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Separating from Sherman’s army, Thomas took his Army of the Cumberland back towards Tennessee. He faced Bragg’s replaced, John Bell Hood, at the Battle of Peachtree Creek.
Back in Nashville, Thomas prepared for Hood’s advance. After the Confederate defeat at Franklin in November 1864, Hood attacked Thomas’s position in Nashville. Thomas routed the Confederate force, effectively ending the Army of Tennessee.
During Reconstruction, Thomas was in charge of the District of Tennessee, which included five states. Later on, Thomas refused to take Grant’s position of General in Chief to President Johnson. Thomas also refused to run for president twice. His career ended in the West. He died of a stroke at age 53 in March 1870. Upon his death he ordered his papers to be burned, so Thomas’s voice is lost in the history that was written largely by Grant and Sherman.
Author: Shannon Rowe, January 28, 2015
Further Reading:
Christopher Einolf, George Thomas: Virginian for the Union. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. Pages 9, 24, 31-32, 36-37, 36-37, 55, 60, 62, 68-69, 73-75, 79, 93, 97, 101, 103-123, 124-139, 140-153, 162-164, 166-169, 174-176, 179-180, 182-183, 186-187, 197, 202-206, 213-217, 239, 247-248, 250-253, 257, 260-282, 295-325, 327, 333, 335.
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