★ ★ Thomas, George Henry

George Henry Thomas
​

Born: July 31, 1816

Birthplace: Newsoms, Virginia

Father: John Thomas 1779 – 1829

(Buried: Thomas Family Cemetery, Newsoms, Virginia)​

Mother: Elizabeth Rochelle 1784 – 1844

(Buried: Thomas Family Cemetery, Newsoms, Virginia)​

Wife: Frances Lucretia Kellogg 1821 – 1889

(Buried: Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, New York)​

​

Married: 1852 in Troy, New York

​

Signature:

Education:

1840: Graduated from West Point Military Academy – (12th​ in class)​

Occupation before War:

1840 – 1844: 2nd​ Lt. United States Army, 3rd​ Artillery​

​

1840: Garrison Duty at Fort Columbus, New York​

​

1841: Served in the capture of 70 Seminole Natives​

​

1841: Brevetted 1st​ Lt. for Gallantry in Seminole War​

​

1842: Garrison Duty at New Orleans, Barracks Louisiana​

​

1842 – 1843: Garrison Duty at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina​

​

1843 – 1845: Garrison Duty at Fort McHenry, Maryland​

​

1844 – 1853: 1st​ Lt. United States Army, 3rd​ Artillery​

​

1845: Recruiter for the United States Army​

​

1845: Garrison Duty at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina​

​

1846: Served in the Defenses of Fort Brown, Texas​

​

1846: Served in the Battle of Monterey, Mexico​

​

1846: Brevetted Captain for Gallantry, Battle of Monterrey​

​

1847: Served in the Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico​

​

1847: Brevetted Major for Gallantry, Battle of Buena Vista​

​

1848 – 1849: Garrison Duty at mouth of Rio Grande, Texas​

​

1851 – 1854: Artillery and Cavalry Instructor at West Point​

​

1853 – 1855: Captain, United States Army, 3rd​ Artillery​

​

1855 – 1861: Major, United States Army, 2nd​ Cavalry Regiment​

​

1856 – 1857: Frontier Duty at Fort Mason, Texas​

​

1857: Frontier Duty at San Antonio, Texas

​

1857 – 1858: Frontier Duty at Fort Mason, Texas​

​

1859 – 1860: Served in Expedition to Red River Country​

​

1860: Served in the Kiowa Expedition​

Civil War Career:

1861: Lt. Colonel, United States Army, 2nd​ Cavalry Regiment​

​

1861: Equipping his regiment at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania​

​

1861: Colonel, United States Army, 2nd​ Cavalry Regiment​

​

1861 – 1863: Colonel, United States Army, 5th​ Cavalry Regiment​

​

1861: Served in the Battle of Falling Waters in Western Virginia​

​

1861: Served in the Skirmish at Martinsburg, Western Virginia​

​

1861 – 1862: Brigadier General, Union Army Volunteers​

​

1861: Served in the Skirmish at Bunker Hill​

​

1861: Served in the Union Army, Department of the Cumberland

​

1861: Organizer of Volunteers in Kentucky and Tennessee​

​

1861: Served in the advance on Crab Orchard and Lebanon, Kentucky​

​

1861 – 1862: Division Commander with Union Army of the Ohio​

​

1862: Union Army Commander at the Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky​

​

1862: Arrived at Battle of Shiloh after the fighting had ceased​

​

1862 – 1864: Major General, Union Army Volunteers​

​

1862: Union Army Commander of Corinth, Mississippi​

​

1862: Guarded Memphis and Charleston Railroad at Tuscumbia, Alabama​

​

1862: Second in command of the Advance into Kentucky​

​

1862: Second in command at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky​

​

1862 – 1863: Served in Battle of Stones River, Tennessee​

​

1863: In Charge of most important maneuvering at Chattanooga​

​

1863 – 1865: Union Army Commander of the Army of the Cumberland​

​

1863 – 1864: Brigadier General United States Army​

​

1863 – 1864: Reorganizing the Union Army of the Cumberland​

​

1864: Union Army Commander at the Battle of Peachtree Creek​

​

1864: Union Army Commander in the Franklin – Nashville Campaign​

​

1864 – 1870: Major General of United States Army​

​

1864 – 1865: Organizer of various raid Expeditions​

​

1865 – 1866: United States Army Commander, Division of Tennessee​

​

1866: Member of Board for recommendations to Brevets for officers​

​

1866 – 1867: United States Army Commander, Dept. of Tennessee​

​

1867: United States Army, Commander of 3rd​ Military District​

​

​

Post War Era:

Memorial Gravestone of Maj. Gen Thomas
by Matt H. Wade, October 2009

1867 – 1869: United States Army, Commander Dept. of Cumberland​

​

1869: Member of Dyer Court of Inquiry​

​

1869 – 1870: United States Army, Commander Division of Pacific​

Died: March 28, 1870

Place of Death: His office in San Francisco, California

Cause of Death: Apoplexy

Age at time of Death: 54 years old

Burial Place: Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, New YorK

 

[Stone in the wall]

I'm sure a good pat on the back, or praise in a report wouldn't have hurt him one bit. He deserved it.

 

[Lost Cause]

I like this Thomas quote:

"I thought after what I had done in the war, that I ought to be trusted to decide when the battle should be fought. I thought I knew better when it should be fought than anyone could know as far off as City Point, Virginia."

Thomas could have included Sherman in that quote, who was previously unable to catch Hood. Perhaps, Sherman didn't want to because of his preference to target civilians.

 

[rbasin]

I'm sure a good pat on the back, or praise in a report wouldn't have hurt him one bit. He deserved it.

Hooker, Buell, and Rosecrans loved him. These three could have a little beef with him, but didn't. Rosecrans called him an angel.

Other officers and people compared him to George Washington. His soldiers adored him. Even John Logan liked him.

 

[Stone in the wall]

Grant had sent Logan with orders to replace Thomas. Grant himself was about to come and take over Thomas's command him self. So much love.

 

[rbasin]

Grant had sent Logan with orders to replace Thomas. Grant himself was about to come and take over Thomas's command him self. So much love.

Yep, after Grant wanted Schofield to replace Thomas. I think Grant may have been a bit confused

 

[Stone in the wall]

When Thomas received a long over due telegram after Nashville finally promoting him to Major General he said "I suppose it is better late than never, but it is never to late to be appreciated. I earned this at Chickamauga."

 

[Stone in the wall]

Yep, after Grant wanted Schofield to replace Thomas. I think Grant may have been a bit confused

Not sure if Grant was confused or just stupid. Sherman sends Thomas after Hoods battle hardened veterans, while he is making war on women and children. Then gets all the glory at Savannah. How does Grant even know what Thomas is doing setting at City Point? Thomas has moved much farther and faster than Grant has.

 

[rbasin]

No blood relatives were there. Yes, he certainly would have been treated much better and praised by Lee and the southern news papers, than how he was treated by Grant. Most likely would now be at rest and at home in Virginia.

His one brother lived in Vicksburg, and the other one had disappeared from what I have read.

 

[rbasin]

When Thomas received a long over due telegram after Nashville finally promoting him to Major General he said "I suppose it is better late than never, but it is never to late to be appreciated. I earned this at Chickamauga."

He also turned down Lt. General, as he knew it was a political move by Johnson, and that he hadn't earned it.

 

[Stone in the wall]

His one brother lived in Vicksburg, and the other one had disappeared from what I have read.

Don't know much about his brothers. Both seem to be buried in Southhapton Va at the family site.

 

[Stone in the wall]

He also turned down Lt. General, as he knew it was a political move by Johnson, and that he hadn't earned it.

I think he earned it. If he had been promoted after Chickamauga like he should have, it would make sense.

 

[rbasin]

I think he earned it. If he had been promoted after Chickamauga like he should have, it would make sense.

As a major general, yep. But Thomas said he hasn't earned a Lt generalship

 

[DanSBHawk]

It was Grant's idea. Thomas wanted an Eastern command so his wife could be closer to he family.

Meade got the Eastern Division. He was senior to Thomas. Grant offered Thomas a Division of the South, with an HQ in Nashville, or Louisville, or anywhere in the south. But Thomas had had enough of the south, and chose California. As Sherman wrote:

"Thomas said he was tired of the South, that being himself a native of the south he was too often offended by sneering remarks, and that the everlasting growling & complaints of the People of the South had become extremely odious to him. He had himself been in California, and knew much about it, and finally notified me that he preferred California...."​

 

[DanSBHawk]

Hooker, Buell, and Rosecrans loved him. These three could have a little beef with him, but didn't. Rosecrans called him an angel.

Other officers and people compared him to George Washington. His soldiers adored him. Even John Logan liked him.

Thomas didn't care much for Logan.

 

[DanSBHawk]

Yep, after Grant wanted Schofield to replace Thomas. I think Grant may have been a bit confused

Grant didn't "want" to replace Thomas with anyone. He "wanted" Thomas to attack.

 

[DanSBHawk]

Not sure if Grant was confused or just stupid. Sherman sends Thomas after Hoods battle hardened veterans, while he is making war on women and children. Then gets all the glory at Savannah. How does Grant even know what Thomas is doing setting at City Point? Thomas has moved much farther and faster than Grant has.

Grant knew that Schofield had already bloodied Hood at Franklin. He wanted Thomas to finish him.

Sherman wasn't making war on women and children, or else there would have been a lot of dead southern women and children.

 

[DanSBHawk]

I think if Thomas had any doubts or indecision at the beginning of the war as to where his loyalties lie, by the end of the war and after the war he definitely had no doubts. He recognized the rebellion as treason. Here is one example, a letter written by Thomas' AG in 1867, as ordered by Thomas. This was before Thomas went west, when he had a section of the south in his post-war department. It was written in response to a couple citizens in Georgia who were jailed for displaying the confederate flag:

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE​

​

Louisville , Kentucky , February 9 , 1867 . GENTLEMEN : The major general commanding the department directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 27th ultimo , addressed to Brevet Major General Davis Tillson , commanding the sub - district of Georgia , giving statement of facts and circumstances which caused the arrest of certain citizens of Rome , Georgia , for being concerned in the display of the flag of the late southern confederacy in that city , and asking that justice may be done and the prisoners released .​

​

In your letter you state that " no disrespect was intended to the United States government by the exhibition of the confederate flag , and that the parties who displayed it have accepted in good faith the present status of affairs , and do acknowledge the jurisdiction of the United States government , " etc.​

​

If that is the case , it can only be supposed , presuming that they possess ordinary intelligence , that they misunderstand the present status of affairs , which is that the rebellion has been decided to be a huge crime , embodying all the crimes of the decalogue , and that it has been conquered and disarmed , and that its very name and emblems are hateful to the people of the United States , and be must be indeed obtuse who expects , without offence , to parade before the eyes of loyal people that which they execrate , and their abhorrence of which they have expressed in the most emphatic language in which it is possible for a great nation to utter its sentiments .​

​

It is pretended by certain newspapers that because no order had been issued from these headquarters that the flag of the confederacy was not to see the light , the citizens were not warned that it would be a treasonable act .​

​

This excuse is too puerile to answer , and unworthy of a schoolboy , even . The young men arrested , as well as other citizens of the South , know well enough what is right and what is wrong in such matters , without waiting to be guided by orders especially naming and prohibiting displays honoring treason , and of course contemning loyalty . Were they so stupid as not to possess such innate sense of propriety , the order from these headquarters forbidding a rebel glorification over the remains of the rebel Brigadier General Hanson should have been a sufficient warning that such performances would not be tolerated .​

​

The sole cause of this and similar offences lies in the fact that certain citizens of Rome , and a portion of the people of the States lately in rebellion , do not and have not accepted the situation ; and that is , that the late civil war was a rebellion , and history will so record it . Those engaged in it are and will be pronounced rebels ; rebellion implies treason , and treason is a crime , and a heinous one too , and deserving of punishment , and that traitors have not been punished is owing to the magnanimity of the conquerors . With too many of the people of the South the late civil war is called a revolution ; rebels are called " confederates ; " loyalists to the whole country are called " damned Yankees and traitors ; " and over the whole great crime , with its accursed record of slaughtered heroes , patriots , murdered because of their true-hearted love of country , widowed wives and orphaned children , and prisoners of war slain amid such horrors as find no parallel in the history of the world , they are trying to throw the gloss of respectability , and thrusting with contumely and derision from their society the men and women who would not join hands with them in the work of ruining their country . Everywhere in the States lately in rebellion treason is respectable and loyalty odious . This the people of the United States , who ended the rebellion and saved the country , will not permit , and all attempts to maintain this unnatural order of things will be met by decided disapproval .​

​

As , however , it is pretended by the friends of the citizens arrested that they were so innocent as not to know that it was wrong for paroled prisoners and unpunished traitors to glory in their shame , and flaunt the symbol of their crime in the face of the country , they will be released from confinement , with the understanding that no act of treason will be passed unnoticed when detected , and may they , and others who think like them , profit by the lesson they have received . I am , very respectfully , your obedient servant ,​

Thomas considered the displaying of the confederate flag an act of treason.

 

[Stone in the wall]

Grant didn't "want" to replace Thomas with anyone. He "wanted" Thomas to attack.

Then why did he send Logan to relieve him of command? Thomas is suppose to attack with ice on the ground?

 

[Stone in the wall]

Grant knew that Schofield had already bloodied Hood at Franklin. He wanted Thomas to finish him.

Sherman wasn't making war on women and children, or else there would have been a lot of dead southern women and children.

What army is he fighting? Or what army is even in his front? Sherman is just burning and stealing War on helpless women and children.

 

[DanSBHawk]

Then why did he send Logan to relieve him of command? Thomas is suppose to attack with ice on the ground?

Because Thomas waited weeks to follow up on Franklin, and people were beginning to doubt whether he would ever attack.