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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] George Henry Thomas Biography THOMAS,
George Henry (1816-70). A distinguished American soldier, born in
Southampton Co., Va. He graduated at West Point in 1840; served in the Mexican
War, and distinguished himself at Monterey and Buena Vista. After the close
of the Mexican War he served a year in Florida, three years as cavalry and
artillery instructor at West Point, and then for five years in Texas as major in
the Second Cavalry. On the outbreak of the Civil War, though he was by birth and
associations a Southerner, he adhered to the Union cause; was lieutenant colonel
(afterward colonel) of the Second Cavalry; commanded a brigade in the first
Shenandoah campaign; and early in 1862 won the battle of Mill Springs, Ky. He
commanded the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee during the siege of
Corinth, and was in full command during a great part of June, 1862. He held
command of the centre of the Army of the Cumberland, and though appointed to
supersede Buell as commander of the whole army, asked to remain in a subordinate
position. He rendered conspicuous service at Perryville and Stone River (q.v.),
and led the Fourteenth Army Corps in the campaign of middle Tennessee in the
summer of 1863. At Chickamauga, Sept. 19-20, 1863, Thomas stood firm, and
resisted the concentrated attack of a victorious enemy, gaining the title of
"the Rock of Chickamauga." Soon after he reluctantly succeeded to the
post held by Rosecrans, and commanded the Army of
the Cumberland at Missionary Ridge, and in the campaign of 1864 up to the
capture of Atlanta. When Sherman marched thence to the
sea, Thomas was sent into Tennessee, where, in the battle of Nashville, Dec.
15-16, 1864, he crushed Hood's army. He was at once appointed a major general in
the regular army, and Congress tendered him a vote of thanks. In 1865-66 General
Thomas commanded the Military Division of the Tennessee, including Kentucky,
Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and the Department of the
Tennessee, including the same States, in 1867. From June, 1869, until his death,
he was in command of the Military Division of the Pacific, with headquarters at
San Francisco. General Thomas was a man of sterling qualities, and a courageous
and skillful officer. He enjoyed to a marked degree the loyalty of his men and
the confidence of his superiors. Consult: T. B. Van Horne, Life
of Major General G. H. Thomas (New York, 1882) ; Henry Coppée, Life
of General Thomas (ib., 1893); Gamaliel Bradford, in Union Portraits (Boston, 1916). |