^^-^j^^jgg^i^a^^gg^^r^^^i^i^ga^^;?^?^^ OMAS i^^ With the Compliments oj WILLIAM H. LAMBERT. Mutual Life Ruilding, Philadelphia. GEORGE HENRY THOMAS ORATION BEFORE THE Society oe the Army of the Cumberland At Rochester N. Y. September 17 1884 BY WILLIAM H. LAMBERT PHILADELPHIA "884 .^\^,^ - -V\-^ ^N^ \- *> <^\ V^ ^ SIXTV-FIVE COPIES PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. PENNYPACKER & ROGERS, PRINTERS. 1018 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. GEORGE H. THOMAS entered the Military Academy at West Point on the first day of July, 1836. and from that day, until his death, con- tinued in the military service of the United States/ Upon his orraduation in 1840 he was commis- sioned second lieutenant in the Third Artillery. His career until the outbreak of the Rebellion differed little from that of other army officers of equal or proximat? rank. His position as a sub- altern of artillery during the war with Mexico afforded scant opportunity for distinction, nor was any g-reater offered by the years of peace in which he attained higher rank ; and at the beginning of the Rebellion his name was familiar to but few beyond the army and the circle of his friends and personal acquaintance. There was, however, no peculiarity in this, for the names of almost all the officers who subsequendy achieved high rank and distinction in the war were as little known as his. The brilliance of their later deeds illumined the obscurity of their early days, and the heroism and fame of the present were seen to be but the outcome of the meritorious though inconspicuous service of the past. Yet his early years were not without evidence that he already possessed the qualities which were to distinguish his later life, for these were not the result of circumstance but inborn, and exhibited themselves in proportion to occasion. With the limited opportunity afforded him he so conducted himself as to merit the approbation of his superior officers, the esteem of his associates and the pride of his friends. He was brevetted first lieutenant for gallantry and good conduct in the Florida War upon the recommendation of General Worth, who reported that Lieutenant Thomas had rendered very efficient service, was highly meritorious, and had been the strenuous coadjutor of Captain Wade in his impor- tant expedition against the Seminoles.^ Thomas was appointed first lieutenant on the 30th of April, 1844, and was at Fort Moultrie with his company E, Third Artillery, then commanded by its senior first lieutenant, Braxton Bragg, when the threatened hostilities in Texas caused its transfer to the Army of Occupation under General Taylor ; and with the company was in garrison at Fort Brown during its bombardment by the Mexican forces. 5 In the several conflicts at Monterey battery E was actively and hotly engaged, and for his bravery there Lieutenant Thomas was mentioned in the re- port of his division commander, and brevetted . captain. During the second day's engagement, Thomas, with a section of the battery, served with the Texas volunteers, and by the bold advance and efficient management of the gun under his charge, and the coolness and deliberation with which he retired his piece when ordered to withdraw, elicited the special approval of General Henderson, their commander.^ At Buena Vista "the services of the light artillery, always conspicuous, were more than usually distin- guished, '"^ justifying the assertion of General Wool that "without our artillery we could not have main- tained our position a single hour. "'^ Hurried from one part of the field to another, by sections or single pieces, as exigence demanded, the three batteries engaged were effectively handled, and it would be difficult to determine which was of the greatest service. It was the fortune of Lieutenants OT^rien and Thomas, the former with a section of Washing- ton's battery, the latter with a single gun of battery E — now commanded by \. W. Sherman, Bragg having been promoted to a captaincy and assigned to battery C of the same regiment — to be stationed on the plateau, which was a vital point in the Amer- lean position, and against which the final assault of the Mexicans was directed. When the enemy's powerful column of twelve thousand men emerged from the ravine in front, it swept our infantry sup- ports from the plateau, and there was absolutely nothing to retard its advance but the guns of O'Brien and Thomas. Both knew the necessity for standing by their pieces, and, though literally unsupported, they fell back no faster than the re- coil of their guns carried them.^ And though O'Brien lost his section, he and Thomas had lonof enough impeded the enemy to enable Bragg and Sherman to reach the plateau, where they were speedily followed by infantry re-enforcements, and the assaulting column was finally repulsed. Lieutenant Thomas was brevetted major for " eallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Buena Vista," and was mentioned in the reports of Generals Taylor and Wool.'' Captain Sherman in his report of this battle compliments Thomas for his' coolness and firmness, and asserts that he "more than sustained the reputation he has long enjoyed in his reeiment as an accurate and scientific artille- rist."^ The citizens of Southampton County, Virginia, expressed in public meeting, their pride in "the military skill, bravery and noble deportment " of their "fellow-county-man, George H. Thomas, ex- hibited in the campaign of Florida, at Fort Brown, Monterey and Buena Vista, in which he has given ample proof of the best requisites of a soldier — patience, fortitude, firmness and daring intrepidity," and presented to him a beautiful sword, as a testi- monial of their "high appreciation of his character as a citizen and soldier."** Thomas attained his captaincy on the 24th of December, 1853, and if the army had not been augmented by the addition of new regiments, appointments in which were authorized to be made from civil life and from the army irrespec- tive of previous rank, he would still have been a captain at the outbreak of the Rebellion. Referring to the appointments in the four new regiments, two of infantry and two of cavalry, au- thorized by the act of Congress, March 3d, 1855, Mr. Jefferson Davis, who was then Secretary of War, says that he was indebted to Colonel vSamuc 1 Cooper, the then Adjutant-General, for assistance in making the selection from the army of officers for appointment in these regiments, and that when the list was "submitted to the President, a diffi- culty was found to exist, which had not occurred either to Colonel Cooper or" to Mr. Davis; "the officers selected purely on their military record did not constitute a roster conforming to that distribu- tion among the different States, which for political considerations it was thought desirable to observe ; ' that is to say, the number of such officers of South- ern birth was found to be disproportionately great." The list was therefore revised under instructions from the President "and modified in accordance with this new element of geographical distribution."^'^ , What was the number of Southern officers com- prised in the original list of recommendations for appointment is not now of record ; if however, it exceeded the number on the modified list of ap- pointments, the disproportion of Southern men must have been exceedingly great. Of the seventy officers first appointed to the cavalry regiments, forty-two were of Southern birth ; of the eight field- officers — Sumner, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, Lee, Bragg, McCulloch, Hardee and Emory — but one was of Northern birth, Sumner, the colonel of the First Cavalry." The preponder- ance of Southern men in these regiments suggests, at least, the possibility that the Secretary of War may have had a forecast of the approaching con- flict, and that he may have had some consideration of the advantages which might result from having Southern men in high stations in that emergency. Whether or not. however, other motives than the orood of the service, and his natural desire to efficiently officer regiments created during his ad- ministration of the War Department, and his espe- cial interest in the cavalry arm, actuated Mr. Davis, it is certain that the official personnel of the First and Second Cavalry was unsurpassed for bravery and ability by that of any other regiments in the army.^"^ McCulloch havinof declined the commission as major because of his chagrin at not receiving the colonelcy for which he had asked/^ John Sedgwick was appointed in his stead; and Bragg, intending to quit the service, having also declined the appoint- ment as major in the First Cavalry, Major Emory, of the Second, was transferred, and to the position thus vacated, Captain Thomas was promoted upon the suggestion of Captain Bragg, who in declining the commission, said that he did not know a better man for the place than George H. Thomas.^"* Major Thomas joined his new regiment at Jeffer- son Barracks, Missouri, and accompanied it when it began its march to Texas ; but before reaching its destined field he was detached upon court-martial duty, and subsequently was detailed for recruiting service in New York City. He rejoined his regi- ment in Texas in May, 1856, and commanded it from October 21st, 1857, to November 12th, i860. During this period, he escorted the Texas Indians from Camp Cooper to their new location in the Indian Territory, commanded an expedition to the Red River country, and another to the head-waters of the Colorado River. In this latter expedition 10 he received the only wound that he sustained in his entire service, being shot through the face by the arrow of a hostile Indian.^^ In November, i860. Major Thomas availed him- self of a leave of absence — his second in twenty years. ^*' This leave had no relation to the threaten- ing aspect of National affairs, having been applied for three months prior to the Presidential election," and also before the State elections that were to precede it and indicate its result. On his way to Washington he was seriously injured in a railroad accident that occurred near Norfolk. So severe was the injury that he was unable to travel for six weeks, and it is believed that he never entirely recovered from the effect, and for some time it was apprehended that he would never again be able to perform field duty.^^ Whilst still suffering from this injury, Major Thomas read the following advertisement in the "National Intelligencer": "To the Graduates of the U. S. Military Acad- emy: — A Commandant of Cadets and Instructor of Tactics is wanted for the Virginia Military Insti- tute. The situation is an eligible one, and should command the best talents and accomplishments. Address the undersigned, at Lexington, Virginia, until the 20th of January, 1861'. Francis H. Smith, Superintendent."^® II And fearing" that it would be necessary for him "to be looking up some means of support," he wrote a letter to Colonel Smith on the i8th of January, 1861, asking the salary and allowances pertaining to the situation.'^" This letter, written three months before Virginia had passed its ordinance of secession, before a single army officer from that State, and when but three from the other Southern States, had resigned because of the Rebellion, when war was regarded as but remotely possible, not as a probability, is the sole basis for the charge that Thomas sought a position in the service of V'irginia because he was unwilling to draw his sword "against any State struggling for its constitutional rights.'"'^ It is impossible for us of the North, who entered the war not merely in accordance with inclination, or in obedience to duty or stimulated by the exam- ple of our brothers, but impelled by the mighty current of the great uprising, to appreciate the trial to which the war brought officers of Southern birth. However much we may condemn Lee and the Johnstons and their associates who resigned their commissions to take part in the Rebellion, we can do them the justice to believe that their action was not determined without sorrow, and that it cost them no little pain to take arms against the Gov- 12 ernment they had long and honorably served. And yet, however much they may have deprecated the resort to arms, however unnecessary they may have reo^arded the secession movement, ' however great the sacrifice they made, they were upheld, by their belief in the rights of the States as against the Nation, they were encouraged by the approba- tion of their friends, sustained by the action of their States, the arguments of political leaders, and the positive course of the Confederate authorities, and doubtless were influenced by the apparent vacillation of the National Administration. And their trial was light compared with the ordeal sustained by the Southern-born officers who, despite friends and family, specious argument, pressing invitation and strong denunciation, re- mained true to the Government whose uniform they wore, whose flag they were pledged to defend. Major Thomas was a Southern man ; of his twenty years of service since he attained his first commission, fifteen had been passed in the Southern States, or on their border ; his army association was principally with Southern men ; his immediate superiors, during a large part of his military life, were men of great influence and ability, who were destined to hold high rank in the armies of the Rebellion f^ a junior captain of artillery, with forty numbers between him and the next grade, he had 13 been appointed major of cavalry at the suggestion of Braxton Bragg, with the approval of Samuel Cooper and the recommendation of Jefferson Davis ; doubtless, high command would be given an officer of his rank and proven ability if he gave his sword to his State; already he had been "spoken of by several ol the secession members ot the convention as the fit man to be general of the forces of Vir- ginia should she secede. "^^ A Virginian by birth, he was justly proud of his native State, and was bound to it by strong and influential ties. Sharing the opinion prevalent in the army, and in the South, and largely entertained in the North, that the difficulties which threatened the National existence resulted from Northern fanaticism and unwarrantable interference with the domestic institutions of the slave-holding States, he believed that these States had just cause of com- plaint, and his sympathy was with the people of the South. To refuse the call of his State, to remain in the National service, was to antagonize his friends, to be alienated from his kindred, to be banished from his boyhood's home. The North had never been friendly to the army, he could hope for no preferment beyond that which would come in the proverbially slow course of pro- motion ; the National Government was waiting the 14 development of events, and had not yet manifested a determined plan of action ; Northern papers were advising peaceable dissolution, Northern politicians and Northern business-men were protesting against armed enforcement of the laws ; the impending rebellion seemed destined to become a triumphant revolution. On the one hand were ambition, sympathy, friends, family, home. State ; on the other, his obli- gation as a soldier. What anguish he endured in this crisis we cannot know. But for George H. Thomas the conflict between feeling and duty could have but one issue, he could not break his plighted faith ; he must be true to his flag. "I have thought it all over and I shall stand firm in the service of the Government."-* His decision was made, never to be recalled, and as heretofore he had been faithful, so henceforth was his allegiance to the Nation. He stipulated no price, he sought no reward, he prescribed no con- ditions, he asked no concessions. His loyalty was genuine and whole-hearted, and throughout the war, whether on the Potomac or the Tennes- see, or the Cumberland, the country had no servant more devoted, no soldier more patriotic than this Virginian. Whatever expectations Virginians may have entertained concerning his purpose in the coming conflict were speedily to be dispelled. 15 On the loth of April. 1861, less than half of his leave of absence having expired, he was ordered to assume command of his regiment upon its arrival from Texas. Had he been unwilling to perform this duty, or had he desired to postpone assertion of his purpose until his State had determined her position, a surgeon's certificate of disability would have had ready justification in his recent injury, and furnished easy opportunity to avoid the duty without making known his ultimate intention. But when the first detachment of the Second Cavalry reached New York, Major Thomas was awaiting its arrival. He dispatched two companies to Washington, con- ducted the others to Carlisle Barracks, and at once applied himself to refitting them for the field. On the 1 2th of April — the day that Fort Sumter was fired upon — he wrote to his wife, reiterating his determination to abide by the Government. Two days later he announced his purpose to his sisters in Virginia, and thereafter all intercourse with them ceased. ^'^ Whilst stationed at Carlisle, he received a tele- gram from Fitz John Porter, assistant adjutant- general, directing Major Thomas and Major Gra- ham, "by authority of General Scott," to send to Harrisburg under an officer of highest rank, four companies, armed and equipped, and with four days' rations in haversacks. Thomas was the i6 senior officer at Carlisle, and could have complied by sending Graham widi die troops ; but he replied, "I will go with my entire force, as effi- ciently equipped as the means we have will per- mit ; " and on the 2 ist of April, four days after the Virginia convention had passed the ordinance of secession, Thomas reported for service.'^''. Lieutenant-Colonel Lee having been promoted colonel of the First Cavalry in place of Sumner, appointed brigadier-general. Major Sedgwick suc- ceeded to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Second, and when Lee resigned his commission, to the colonelcy of the First. To fill the vacancy so made, Thomas was promoted lieutenant-colonel, to rank from April 25th, and on May 3d, cplonel, ''vice Johnston, resigned." These promotions were made in ordinary course, their rapidity being caused by the resignation of four'"^^ of the six field-officers of cavalry who were senior to himself In July, 1 86 1, the Virginia convention ordained that any native of the State who should hold office under the United States Government after the thirty- first of that month, should be forever banished from the State and considered an alien enemy. During that month, in command of a brigade of National troops, Colonel Thomas crossed the Potomac, and had his first encounter with the insurgent forces on the soil of his native State. 17 The Department of the Cumberland, comprising the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, was consti- tuted on the 15th of August, 1861, and General Robert Anderson assigned to the command. Upon his recommendation and request, Colonel Thomas was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, Au- gust 17 th, and assigned to duty in the new depart- ment, with which his services were to be identified until the end of the war. This appointment was not made as a reward for his loyalty, nor as an incentive for him to persist in his adherence to the Government ; on the con- trary. General Sherman, in his "Memoirs,"-^ states that the President was reluctant to accede to the request for the appointment of Thomas, "because so many Southern officers had already played false," but yielded because of Anderson's insistance and Sherman's emphatic assurance that Thomas was to be depended upon. The commissions of fifty of the brigadier-gener- als of volunteers, appointed in r86i, antedated the commission of General Thomas. Thirty-four of these were appointed from civil life.^^ Of the six- teen who were already in the army when appointed, but five were his seniors in service,'^" and all were his juniors in rank, — two having but recently served under him as captains in his regiment. '^^ There had been nothing extraordinary in his several promotions ; five of the seven commissions that he had thus far received had been conferred in obedience to the Army Regulations, in con- formity with which the opportunity foF the others was also afforded by the increase of the army ; and he had received these commissions, not through political influence, but upon the recommendation of his brother officers. His first service in Kentucky was at Camp Dick Robinson, where he organized the first brigades of the Army of the Cumberland. In January, 1862, at Mill .Springs, commanding a division of the Army of the Ohio, General Thomas struck the key-note of his career in the War of the Rebellion, for the success he there achieved was the initiative of the unbroken series of victories which culminated at Nashville. Compared with the great battles that followed ere the year ended, this action now seems insignificant ; but remembering that it was the first important victory of our land forces to break the dispiriting inaction which followed Ball's Bluff, its value in encouraging the army and the people can hardly be overestimated ; nor were its material results insignificant, for it dispersed the rebel Army of Kentucky, and secured that .State to the National Government. Upon the recommendation of General Halleck, Thomas was appointed major-general of volun- 19 teers, April 25th, 1862. In the operations about Corinth he commanded the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee ; but beingf relieved at his own request, he returned to his division in the Army of the Ohio, and participated in its campaign under General Buell, and during the advance from Louis- ville was "second in command." When General Rosecrans assumed command of the department, its former name "of the Cumber- land " was resumed, and the army designated as the Fourteenth Corps, General Thomas being assigned the command of the five divisions comprising the " Centre." At Stone River he bore important part, and by his prudence and courage aided largely to secure the triumph in which that battle ended. Commanding the Fourteenth Corps he contrib- uted much to the success of the brilliant campaign of Rosecrans that carried our army from Murfrees- boro' to Chattanooga. And when Bragg, obedient to the commands of the alarmed authorities at Rich- mond, with ranks strengthened by accessions from Virginia and Mississippi, turned upon the adversary who had forced him from the banks of the C\im- berland to beyond the Tennessee, it was Thomas who saved the Army of the Cumberland and frus- trated the rebel attempt to recover Chattanooga. Disappointed through the failure of subordinates in the purpose to strike Rosecrans' corps in the 20 isolation that had followed their passage of the mountain barrier, Bragg was nevertheless confi- dent that he could crush his adversary's left and gain the road in rear to Chattanooga. But he was fated to be again disappointed. In expectation that the enemy's attack would be made on the left, Thomas had been transferred to that Hank from his usual position in the centre ; reconnoitering his front in force, he opened the battle, thus depriv- ing Bragg of the initiative that he had intended to deliver. Instead of crushing the left of the Army of the Cumberland, the rebel leader found his own right in danger of destruction. The battle so begun, swept along the wdiole line but was heaviest upon the opposing flanks first engaged, which had been strongly re-enforced. Night closed a series of bloody charges and countercharges that had resulted in no material advantage to either side, the preponderance however being with the National army. The battle was renewed upon the morrow, the valiant assaults of the enemy, being met with equal valor by our troops in defence and counter- assault ; here and there an impression was made upon our line, but no vital advantage was gained by the rebels until noon, when the great catastrophe befell our right. The pressure of the exultant en- emy upon the now exposed right first indicated to Thomas that some great calamity had overtaken 21 the army. Ignorant of the extent of the disaster, but (^qual to the greatest emergence, he disposed his line to meet the new danger. The fierce onset that swept the right and centre in confusion from the field, carrying with them in rout the commander of the army and the commanders of two of the corps, was powerless to drive the left where Thomas stood at bay. ("lathering about him the troops re- maining on the field he repelled every assault of the now doubly outnumbering foe. Inspired by his in- domitable will and imperturbable courage, the fast thinning line seemed to grow stronger as contract- ing it drew nearer its leader. From noon till night, the battle-storm raged in fury — but all unmoved stood the "Rock of Chickamauga." In this evil day he was able to withstand — and, having done all, to stand. Chattanooga was saved, and the results of the summer's campaign secured by Thomas' stand at Chickamauga ; but a new danger threatened the Army of the Cumberland. Separated from its base of supplies by one hundred and fifty miles of hostile country ; its only communication a dilapidated rail- road, with terminus thirty miles distant ; the direct wagon-road to that terminus commanded by the enemy, and the trains compelled to make a circuit of sixty miles across the mountains ; rail~ and wagon- roads alike open to the frequent raids of the en- 22 emy's cavalry ; pent in the little town by the rebel line entrenched on the amphitheatre of hills, each flank restino- on the Tennessee ; starvation or the abandonment of the town seemed inevitable. So imminent was the peril, that when Grant was appointed to the command of the western armies he telegraphed to Thomas, now the commander of the Army of the Cumberland, " Hold Chattanooga at all hazards." With full knowledge of the import of the words, Thomas immediately replied, "We will hold. the town till we starve." But he did not supinely await the impending fate, for within a few days after his accession to the command he executed plans that greatly bettered his communications and relieved his army from its dangerous privation. In the battles of November that raised the siege of Chattanooga, and relieved Burnside at Knox- ville, Thomas' command demonstrated that though it had yielded the field at Chickamauga and starved in the trenches at Chattanooga, it had not lost con- fidence in itself or faith in its leader. On the right under Hooker, soldiers of the Army of the Cum- berland uniting with soldiers from the Potomac and the Tennessee carried the heights of Lookout. On the left, under Sherman, soldiers of the Cum- berland with other soldiers from the Potomac united with- the Army of the Tennessee in the attack on the ridge. In the centre under Thomas, 23 the Army of the Cumberland in glorious array swept across the intervening plain, drove the rebels from the pits at the base of Mission Ridge, thence self-impelled, climbed its rocky slopes and forced the enemy from his entrenchments, across the Chickamauga, far back into Georgia. On the 27th of October, 1863, he was appointed brigadier-general in the United States Army. In the spring campaign of 1864, Thomas' army comprised three-fifths of Sherman's active com- mand, and his guns thundering against the rocky defences of Dalton began the four months of fight- ing that ended when at Jonesboro' his troops cap- tured Atlanta. And when Sherman, pondering the problem of utilizing his \-ictory, and being aided to speedy solu- tion by Hoods northward movement, determined upon the March to the Sea, it was to Thomas he entrusted the task of confronting the enemy who had so long and stubbornly resisted the combined armies of the ( )hio, Tennessee and Cumberland. How great was the trust, how important to the Nation, how necessary to Sherman its successful execution, ma\- be conceived if w^e imagine the result had Thomas ]3roved unequal to the task. Had he failed, the fruits of the Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns — fruits garnered at tremendous cost — would have been completely wasted, whilst 24 between Hood's legions and die Nordi only the Ohio would have interposed. Had Thomas failed, Sherman, instead of being esteemed the most brilliant of our generals, would have been judged the most hopelessly incompetent ; the great march would have been the farce of our history, if, in- deed, it had not proved its darkest tragedy. But the trust was not greater than the man to whom it was given ; failure had not yet been written against any undertaking of his, and never was to be. Hence, when Sherman reached the sea, he learned that his coastward march had been approved by Thomas' entire success, and with natural exultation he issued his order declaringf "the armies servinof in Georgia and Tennessee * * * * alike entitled to the common honors," and authorizino- each regiment to inscribe on its colors at will either "Savannah" or "Nashville"*" — a concession, how- ever valued by the men who shared the pleasures of the holiday march through Georgia, not so highly esteemed by the men who fought at Frank- lin and at Nashville, The forces with which General Thomas was to encounter Hood comprised two of the six corps that had made the Atlanta campaign, two divisions that were to come from Missouri, the garrisons of the various posts along the Chattanooga road, and the convalescents and furloughed men en route to 25 their several commands. The Fourth and Twenty- third Corps having- defeated Hood at Franklin in his attempt to cut them off. made good their march to Nashville, where Thomas had ordered the concen- tration of his troops. Calmly awaiting his oppor- tunity, he perfected his arrangements and organized his arm)', purposing not merely the repulse but the destruction of the enemy. Day after day passed in seeming inaction, Hood meanwhile pressing close upon the entrenchments of the town in the sem- blance of a siege ; but each day was making Thomas' preparations more thorough and adding to his effec- tive strength. Misunderstanding the causes of the delay, not realizing the difficulties attending the organization of an army in the presence of a foe numericall)- greater, and, above all, failing to appre- ciate the character of Thomas, the authorities at Washington and the Lieutenant-General grew im- patient and telegraphed again and again, urging immediate action. Knowing the issues involved, comprehending the situation with all its surround- ings, General Thomas was not shaken in his pur- pose by the vexation and importunities of his supe- riors, or by the threats of removal from command. 'T can only say that I have done all in my power to prepare, and if you should deem it necessary to relieve me, I shall submit without a murmur. "^'^ Resolute in his conviction of duty, he postponed 26 aggressive movements until his matured judgment assured him that the hour for action had come. Meanwhile, so great was the impatience of (General Grant that he left City Point en route for Nashville, only, however, to learn at Washington that Thomas had moved upon the enemy with results that more than justified his deliberation, and that forever vin- dicated his judgment. With an army "hastily made up from the frag- ments ot three separate commands," General Thomas had contended successfully "against a force numerically greater than" his own, "and of more thoroughly solid organization," and had m- fiicted upon his enemy a defeat so crushing as to be virtually annihilation.'** The Army of the Cumberland, that under Thomas had iought its first battle among the hills whose name it bore, that had won Chattanooga on the Tennessee, and had penetrated far into Georgia, had turned back at last to its earlier fields, and under the same great leader, swept an army out of being at Nashville on the Cumberland. So complete was the victory that no formidable force of the enemy remained to engage General Thomas' army, and the larger part of his infantry was transferred to eastern fields, whilst his cavalry swept east, west and south in the vain endeavor to find an organized foe. So thoroughly had the har- vest been garnered that nousj^ht remained for the gleaners. The enemy had vanished, and the war was ended in the Department of the Cumberland. General Thomas was promoted to be major- general in the United States Army December 15, 1864. Shortly alter the war he was urged by his triends to become a candidate for the Presidency in 1868, but he positively refused. He again declined, when a tew years later he was asked to allow his name to be proposed for the candidacy in 1872. In a letter referring to the subject, written three weeks before his death, ht; said, "My services are now, as they have always been, subject to the call of the Gov- ernment in whatever military capacity I may be considered competent and worthy to fill, and will be cordially undertaken whenever called upon to render them. All civil honors and duties I shall continue to decline." In the same letter he asked "Is it not rather early to begin to look for another Republican candidate for the next Presidential term?" and added "Grant is still young, has not, "as yet, committed any serious mistake, and if he continues steadfast to the principles enunciated at his inaugural, will be entitled to the second term, or at least to the nomination, as an expression ol the approbation of the party for his past services. "'^^ During the troublous years which followed the 28 war, he held important commands, manifesting- in each the fidelity, firmness and ciiscretion that had characterized his whole career ; that he appreciated the difificulties in the military government of the States lately in rebellion is shown by his official reports, and by his testimony before the Congres- sional Committee on Reconstruction; and his orders show that he was neither appalled by these difificul- ties nor incompetent to meet them. His several commands from 1865 to the spring of 1869, were designated respectively as the De- partment of the Cumberland, the Military Division of the Tennessee, the Department of the Tennes- see, and again the Department of the Cumberland, and varied in their territorial extent, but always included the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. His head-quarters were maintained at Nashville until November, 1866, then transferred to Louis- ville, where they remained until May 15th, 1869, when he was appointed to command the Military Division of the Pacific. This was his last assign- ment, — he died at his post in San Francisco on the 28th day of March, 1870. * General Thomas passed through every grade in the military service of his country, from second lieutenant to major-general. In the history of the war it is recorded that he 29 saved an army at Chickamauga, that he destroyed the army of his enemy at Nashville. He shrank from no duty, however arduous or distasteful ; he asked no favors, he sought no ad- vancenient ; the protege of no politician, the favor- ite ot no party, he earned every step of his promo- tion by faithful, intelligent, able service. Not only did he never seek advancement, he re- fused to receive it when he believed its acceptance involved injustice to others, or when it came in any form other than as the earned reward of duty. In 1862, he relinquished command of the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee and returned to the command of a division, because he had learned that General Grant, whom he had superseded in the for- mer position, felt aggrieved.^'' In September of that year he declined the proffered command of the Army of the Ohio, urging the retention of General Buell. And in 1868, when President Johnson nominated him to the Senate for the brevet commis- sions of lieutenant-general and general, Thomas re- quested the recall of the nomination because he had "done no service since the war to deserve so high a compliment," and it was "now^ too late to be re- garded as a compliment if conferred for services during the war."'^' He refused to receive the presents wherein his admirers sought to give expression to their regard. 30 These were declined, not because he had been so favored by fortune that the proffered gifts were of no moment to him, nor because he failed to appre- ciate the kindly motives which prompted the tender ; but because his sense of duty prohibited him from accepting any compensation for his services other than that which attached to his position. In 1865, upon learning that it was the purpose of some of his friends to raise a large sum of money to be given him as an evidence of their gratitude for his services, he wrote as follows to the author of the testimonial : "Whilst I am duly and profoundly sensible of the high compliment thus proposed to be paid me, I would greatly prefer, and, if not premature, request that any sum which may be raised for that purpose be devoted to the founding of a fund for the relief of disabled soldiers, and of the indigent widows and orphans ot officers and soldiers who have lost their lives during the war. I am amply rewarded when assured that my humble services have met with the approbation of the Government and the people. "■^'* He appreciated the approbation of his official superiors, and he was not insensible to the praise of the people, but he tourted neither. He was keenly sensitive to injustice, but never allowed slight or wrong to defiect him from his duty. He served to-day as loyally under the man he yester- 31 clay commanded as though he had never known die change. He beheld his junior in years, in rank and in service, chosen before him to high honor ; and though his great heart felt the wound, no sense of personal injury swerved him from his devotion. Not once, not twice, but always, not for himself, but for his country. Simple and modest, he shunned notoriety, and never sought to magnify his own achievements. No eccentricities of character made him the fre- quent subject of anecdote and jest ; no swelling phrases and pompous declarations announced in- tention in advance of performance, and no special correspondent attached to head-quarters was charged to write up his deeds and to fill the news- paper press with the statements of his views, pur- poses and plans. His actions were ever louder than his words. He had girded on the harness never to put it off, and boasted himself — never. Grave and dignified, he tolerated no unsoldierly familiarities ; he resorted to no theatrical expedients to gain favor with his troops. Kind and considerate, he revealed his love for his men not by relaxing discipline, not by effusive proclamation, but by watchful care for their well- being, and by jealous regard for their fame. They loved him for what he was with devotion resulting from confidence in his ability and from faith in his 32 integrity. Their affection displayed itself not so much in the swinging" of hats and the hearty hurrahs when he rode along the lines, as in the soldierly position instinctively assumed, and the soldier's salute instinctively given in the presence of the leader they revered and loved, and that affection had its highest attestation in the unbounded trust that each man reposed in the General. He valued the lives of his men, and never sacri- ficed them in tentative movements to satisfy the popular demand for action, or to fancied necessity for the improvement of their morale ; but no regard for their lives, or for his own, lessened the vigor of his assault or the tenacity of his defence when the Nation's life demanded the sacrifice. Painstaking and exact, he neglected no details however apparently trivial, when upon them might rest the issue of a battle, and he assumed no risk against which care and precaution could guard. Systematic and thorough, his victories were neither successful experiments nor lucky accidents, but the logical result of deliberate plan and of effec- •tive execution ; his battles were not games of hazard, but probl-ems successfully solved. He was prudent in judgment and powerful in action. Deliberate in thought — by some deemed slow — decision formed was manifested in prompt and energetic accomplishment. 33 Firm in his convictions of right, he was unyield- intr in his adherence to duty, whether resisting- the assault of a rebel army, as at Chickamauga, or with- standing the pressure of impatient superiors and the anxiety of an alarmed people, as at Nashville. Self-controlled in camp, on march and in field, he was unimpassioned alike in the flush of victory or in the gloom of threatened defeat ; though unmoved by injustice to himself, he was capable of a mighty wrath when wrong to others, or reckless exposure of troops, or cowardice, provoked his righteous indignation. His affections, though undemonstrative, were strong anci true, and they who were honored by his friendship had ample proof of its sincerity. Heroic in form and feature — fitting embodi- ment of the man — his pre.sence inspired the confi- dence and respect that his great qualities main- tained. Nothing in his private life or character detracts from his soldierly merits or clouds his well-earned fame. No weakness or pettiness belittles him. Admiration for his character grows w^ith increasing familiarity with his life, hence those who knew him best loved him most. Pure-minded and clean-handed, brave and skill- ful, honest and magnanimous, he was in truth without fear and without reproach. 34 Complete and symmetrical, the character of General Thomas combined all the virtues and graces that unite in the great soldier and true gen- tleman. In the Nation's capital the soldiers he commanded have erected a magnificent memorial of their mag- nificent leader ; and the noble figure steadfastly gazing across the historic river to the hills of his native Virginia shall mutely tell the story of his life to the generations yet to come. But hio^her than the highest rank, greater than his greatest achievement, grander than the artist's grand conception, more enduring than its bronze, more solid than its granite, is the character of the man. When the history of the war shall have ceased to interest any save the student, when the bronze figure shall have corroded, and the granite pedestal crumbled to dust, the influence of that life shall still endure, and loyalty, honor and duty shall have had no higher embodiment than in the life and character of GEORGE HENRY THOMAS. NOTES. I . See Appendix A. I 2. "The Origin, Progress and Conclusion of the Florida War." John T. Sprague, U. S. A., p. 556. 3. Senate Document No. i, 2d Session, 29th Congress, p. 98. 4. Report of General Taylor, Executive Document No. I, Senate, ist Session, 30th Congress, p. 138. 5. Executive Document No. i, Senate, 1st Session, 30th Congress, p. 150. 6. "The Battle of Buena Vista," James H. Carleton, U. S. A., p. 112. 7. Executive Document No. i. Senate, ist Session, 30th Congress, pp. 139 and 150.