kevikens
2nd Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Location
- New Jersey
I have written before about General Thomas and I repeat here that I think he is the most underrated commander from that war. I very much admire him as both a human being and a battlefield commander.
Recently I have been wondering about his ability in another area, that of a commander of occupation troops in the Reconstruction Era. By all accounts George Thomas was not very different from other young White boys growing up in the Ante Bellum South. Relatives saw nothing unusual in the young George playing with his little black playmates and there is nothing to disclose that George Thomas thought very much about race relations at all, even though his hometown of Southampton was the scene of Nat turner's grisly rebellion when Thomas was a child.
Something like a remarkable transformation took place with Thomas, though, during the war and he came to respect not just the Black troops he encountered but African Americans in general. He seems to have undergone something like a conversion experience and worked diligently to assist the Freedmen he encountered after the war in his Reconstruction duties.
The question I would like to bring up is how Reconstruction might have turned out differently had he, Thomas been elected president in 1868 in place of Grant. He could have brought to that office a unique background to that office and as a Southern born and bred gentleman might have been able to bridge the gap that developed between former Confederates and the Freedmen. I think Thomas could have won that election whether as a replacement for Grant (not likely, but...) or as the Democrat candidate. As it was, Grant did not win that election by anything like a landslide and Thomas just might have been perceived as the man who could take the awful mess that Reconstruction had become and turn it around in a way that would have benefitted both the nation as a whole and the Freedmen in particular.
Anyway, I think that had he ever had the opportunity to be the American president, even though he never pursued such an office, I think the whole, reunited, country would have benefited as much from his humanity and benevolence as it did from his military prowess. If nothing else his relatives back in Southampton might have turned his picture around to face the living room visitors.
Recently I have been wondering about his ability in another area, that of a commander of occupation troops in the Reconstruction Era. By all accounts George Thomas was not very different from other young White boys growing up in the Ante Bellum South. Relatives saw nothing unusual in the young George playing with his little black playmates and there is nothing to disclose that George Thomas thought very much about race relations at all, even though his hometown of Southampton was the scene of Nat turner's grisly rebellion when Thomas was a child.
Something like a remarkable transformation took place with Thomas, though, during the war and he came to respect not just the Black troops he encountered but African Americans in general. He seems to have undergone something like a conversion experience and worked diligently to assist the Freedmen he encountered after the war in his Reconstruction duties.
The question I would like to bring up is how Reconstruction might have turned out differently had he, Thomas been elected president in 1868 in place of Grant. He could have brought to that office a unique background to that office and as a Southern born and bred gentleman might have been able to bridge the gap that developed between former Confederates and the Freedmen. I think Thomas could have won that election whether as a replacement for Grant (not likely, but...) or as the Democrat candidate. As it was, Grant did not win that election by anything like a landslide and Thomas just might have been perceived as the man who could take the awful mess that Reconstruction had become and turn it around in a way that would have benefitted both the nation as a whole and the Freedmen in particular.
Anyway, I think that had he ever had the opportunity to be the American president, even though he never pursued such an office, I think the whole, reunited, country would have benefited as much from his humanity and benevolence as it did from his military prowess. If nothing else his relatives back in Southampton might have turned his picture around to face the living room visitors.
Bringing the