General George H. Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga" of the history books, was a Virginian who chose the northern side in the Civil War. While Thomas was considered a traitor by his family, his military superiors regarded him with a certain mistrust because of his southern background.
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General George H. Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga" of the history books, was a Virginian who chose the northern side in the Civil War. While Thomas was considered a traitor by his family, his military superiors regarded him with a certain mistrust because of his southern background.
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An American hero, General George Thomas (1816 - 1870) remains unfamiliar to most Americans who do not have more than a casual interest in the Civil War. But Thomas deserves to be remembered as a soldier and as a man. Educated at West Point, Thomas served for the entire duration of the Civil War, primarily in the middle theater in Tennessee. Thomas planned carefully and methodically and endeavored to limit losses of his men. He was also resolute. His greatest military accomplishments came at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863 where he courageously defended the retreating Union Army from what would have been a total defeat. He played an important role in the subsequent Union victory at Chattanooga. Late in the conflict, in 1864, Thomas won a near-total offensive victory against the Confederate Army of the Tennessee led by General John Bell Hood at Nashville.
Thomas deserves to be remembered even more for his character than for his military achievement. Born to a slaveholding family in Virginia, Thomas made his choice for the Union at the outset of the Civil War. From that point forward, most of his family had little to do with him. Thomas was unstintingly loyal to the Union cause. Although a military leader with the necessary ambition and self-regard for one in this position, Thomas was remarkably self-effacing. On several occasions he declined promotions which were offered to him due to his accomplishments. On other occasions, Thomas was passed over. Deeply disappointed at what he considered shabby treatment, Thomas persevered for the good of the Union cause. In other words, he was able to put his ego behind him. As the war progressed, Thomas became increasingly committed to civil rights for African Americans. African American troops played a key part in the victory at Nashville. Following the Civil War, Thomas served in the Reconstruction South where he tried to protect the rights of the Freedmen and to combat the growth of the mythology of the Lost Cause.
Highly reticent about his personal life, Thomas destroyed most of his personal letters because he wished only to be remembered for his accomplishments to the Union. In spite of this difficulty and of his relative obscurity, Thomas has been on the whole well-served by biographers especially of late. Biographies by Einolf, George Thomas: Virginian for the Union (Campaigns and Commanders) Bobrick, Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas and Broadwater General George H. Thomas: A Biography of the Union's "Rock of Chickamauga" have been published in the past three years. Another biography, Brian Wills' "George Henry Thomas: As True As Steel" was published in 2012. By reading authors with varying points of view, a consensus picture of Thomas gradually emerges.
In 1948, Freeman Cleaves wrote "Rock of Chickamauga", a biography of Thomas for an earlier generation of readers. The book is still in print. Cleaves also wrote books about Union general George Meade Meade of Gettysburg and about William Henry Harrison Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time (Signature Series). While not as detailed as the latter biographies of Thomas, Cleaves offers a good basic overview of Thomas' life and accomplishments. The book does not dig into letters and other sources used by later writers. But it covers adequately Thomas' youth, his education at West Point and service in the Mexican War and elsewhere prior to his decision to remain loyal to the Union. The major campaigns and battles in which Thomas participated, including Mill Springs, Perryville, Stones River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, the Atlanta Campaign, and Nashville and its aftermath are described adequately and to the purpose. Cleaves shows something of Thomas's relationships with Grant and Sherman and offers a highly laudatory account of Thomas' accomplishments. As do many subsequent biographers, Cleaves believes that Thomas' accomplishments were unjustly belittled by Grant, Sherman and others.
Unlike most other great Civil War leaders, Thomas had his own military command only rarely. Grant and Sherman praised Thomas as a defensive commander, but they wrote that Thomas tended to be overly cautious and slow. Modern supporters of Thomas tend to disagree and they argue that Grant and Sherman rewrote the history of the Civil War and their Memoirs and elsewhere to elevate their own accomplishments at the expense of Thomas. Cleaves seems on the whole to take this position, but not to the extent of, for example, Bobrick in his book.
I think the disputes about Thomas' military role as compared to Grant or Sherman are of secondary importance. As suggested above, the portrait of Thomas that emerges from multiple sources focuses upon his loyalty, his commitment to the Union, his careful judgment and his willingness to put aside grudges and slights when necessary to advance the public good. And Thomas became a progressive for his day in the matter of civil rights. These considerations, together with his significant military achievement, make Thomas an unquestioned hero who deserves to be remembered by Americans.
Cleaves book will be valuable to readers who want a single biography of Thomas without a welter of detail. It will also appeal to readers of more recent studies who want to get varied perspectives on a leader who is a proper subject of study and admiration.
