In his purported confession, Nat mentions stopping at the Thomas farm:

On my way back, I called at Mrs. Thomas's, Mrs. Spencer's, and several other places, the white families having fled, we found no more victims to gratify our thirst for blood, we stopped at Maj. Ridley's quarter for the night, and being joined by four of his men, with the recruits made since my defeat, we mustered now about forty strong.

For more information go to  Nat Turner

Before entering the Academy, Thomas visits Washington to thank Congressman Mason for his appointment.  The meeting was brief as Mason only said to him, "No cadet appointed from our district has ever graduated from the Military Academy, and if you do not, I never want to see you again".  The Congressman needn't have worried about George Thomas' dedication.         

Lt. Thomas commands a gun in the light artillery in Captain Braxton Bragg's battery.  During these battles he 'flies' from one hot spot to another taking his gun where it is needed most.  His bravery is noted and he is mentioned in dispatches which leads to his brevets.  By the end of 1847, Lt. Thomas was one of only two men in his cadet class who had earned a total of three brevets in seven years. 

Brevet promotions were somewhat honorary and, as the number of officers of each grade were limited by law, it did not mean a promotion to that grade was eminent.  This was the only way to quickly honor a soldier's field performance as the concept of awarding combat medals would not come until the Civil War.  Promotion in the small regular army of those days was very slow. 

When he returns home, the people of Southampton present him with a ceremonial sword engraved with the words Florida, Ft. Brown, Monterrey and Buena Vista.   

For more information: Thomas in Mexico

It is interesting to note that, at the outbreak of the war, George Thomas is one of the very few senior Union officers with long field experience in both the artillery and cavalry arms.  Thomas will put this experience to great use during the war.  He will rarely see defeat in battle and never when he is in top command.

For a poem on the death of a young soldier go to Battle of Mill Springs

For more information: Battle of Stones River                       

"During the heavy fighting of the 20th, Thomas was the only general officer left on the field of rank above a division commander.  Learning sometime later in the day of the disaster on our right, he gathered his troops together from all parts of the field to the position selected by himself after the break on the right.  Here in a more marked degree even than at Stone's River, he displayed his great staying quality.  Posting his troops on the lines he designated, he, so to speak, placed himself with his back against a rock and refused to be driven from the field.   Here he stayed, despite the fierce and prolonged assault of the enemy, repulsing every attack.  And when the sun went down he was still there.  Well was he called the "Rock of Chickamauga", and trebly well for the Army of the Cumberland that George H. Thomas was in command of the left at that battle.  On the 20th, when the hour of supreme trial came and he was left on the field with less than one half of the strength of the army that the day before had been barely able to hold its own against the rebel assaults, he formed his 25,000 troops on "Horseshoe Ridge", and successfully resisted for nearly six long hours the repeated attacks of that same rebel army, largely reinforced until it numbered twice his command, when it was flushed with victory and determined on his utter destruction.   There is nothing finer in history than Thomas at Chickamauga."   -Henry M. Cist, The Army of the Cumberland

"Under the shadow of a spreading oak, near Snodgrass house, is a grizzled soldier, calm, silent, immovable, who resolves to hold the field until night comes ... hemmed in by appalling ruin yet supreme above disaster ... The Rock of Chickamauga."   - J. S. Ostrander, Two September Days

This stand by Thomas prevents a wholesale Union rout and the loss of Chattanooga and possibly the Union retrenching all the way west to Nashville. Chattanooga, with its major Railway networks, will be the key logistical  base for the Atlanta Campaign that next spring.  Atlanta’s capture just prior to the 1864 election will guarantee Abe Lincoln’s re-election.  If it wasn't for Thomas' heroic leadership, the need to recapture of Chattanooga would have taken months, and Atlanta would have been in solid rebel hands until well after the November elections, possibly costing Lincoln the election.

Click on arrow to hear Jimmy Driftwood's song "Rock of Chickamauga"

For a multimedia animation on the Battle of Chickamauga go to: Chickamauga  

For a stirring poem by Kate Brownlee Sherwood: "Thomas at Chickamauga"

See a painting of Thomas at Chickamauga by Rudy Ayoroa.

Go to Thomas' staff for additional info. 

General Grant had arranged his battle plan such that his friend General Sherman with his Union Army of the Tennessee would get a chance for the victory with a flank attack, but when Sherman stalled due to the excellent defense of General Cleburne (plus it didn't help that Sherman initially attacked the wrong hill which gave away any surprise), Grant turned to Thomas to save a deteriorating tactical position. 

The new attack, as planned by Grant, was to be a simple demonstration towards the heights of General Bragg's center to try to draw troops away from Sherman's sector and so give Sherman a better chance for success.  Unknown to Grant however, by that time General Sherman had basically quit for the day.

However, Pap Thomas' boys were looking for retaliation for Chickamauga.  They were supposed to stop after they took the first line of rifle pits per Grant's order, but when they got there, they instinctively knew that the rebel artillery would play havoc on their position.  Here the training of Rosecrans and Thomas took over.  The Army of the Cumberland 'esprit de corps' made them continue up the steep ridge.  This spontaneous charge becomes one of the few successful frontal assaults against an entrenched enemy in the entire war.  

Lt. Arthur MacArthur, future father of Douglas MacArthur, earns the Medal of Honor during this battle.

After the battle, Grant gives top command in the West to the failure Sherman over the more senior Thomas.  Go figure.

For more information: Chattanooga

See Thomas and staff on Lookout Mountain

For a new poem about the Army of the Cumberland at Missionary Ridge, go to ALL HELL WON'T STOP 'EM.

See Thomas Oath of Office.

By the 1890's this battle is one of the few Civil War examples studied in European military academies and was considered on a par with the Battle of Austerlitz.  This is quite a compliment since European military men generally considered the War Between the States as 'two armed mobs chasing each other around the countryside'.

Equally important is Thomas' two week pursuit of Hood’s army after the battle.  It does not allow the gallant Army of Tennessee time to re-group and completes the wreckage of Hood's army as rebel stragglers by the thousands try but are unable to rejoin, and decide to leave the war for good.  This type of full pursuit is unheard-of in a winter campaign but was part of Thomas' plan from the start and was why he waited until his cavalry horses were roughshod before commencing the attack.

This battle, with its final destruction of the Confederate's main western army, does more to end the war than any other single event in the conflict.

Despite Thomas' impressive performance, after the battle, General Grant will take away much of his infantry because he feels that Thomas was "slow".

For more information: Henry V. Boynton, "Was Thomas slow at Nashville?"

For an interesting PowerPoint Presentation by Mr. Dan Hughes on General Thomas' performance at Nashville : Link

Johnson was the War Governor of Tennessee and knew Thomas well and held him in high regard.  He was prepared to promote Thomas over Generals Grant, Sherman, Meade and Sheridan.  Thomas, ever the honorable gentleman and soldier, quickly asks the President to recall the nomination as he knows it is inspired primarily by  politics.  

He would rather pass up a chance at three stars than be used to interfere with a brother officer's career.  Too bad some other senior generals did not share his high ethical standards when it came to lobbying for promotion.   

The General frequently rallied me upon my large and increasing family, and said, "I think you might name one of your children for me." So when my next son was born I wrote to him announcing that "George Henry Thomas Scribner has this day reported in person for duty." The General was at Washington, and by return of mail I received a document bearing all the official marks of special orders, with the following extract: "George Henry Thomas Scribner having reported in person for duty, is hereby assigned to the care of his mother until further orders."

When the boy was one year old his photograph was taken and mailed to the General's address at San Francisco, where he was then stationed. But soon after a letter with signs of mourning around it came to hand from Mrs. Thomas, informing me of the death of her husband and acknowledging the receipt of the picture.  However great must have been the grief of his noble widow, the Army of the Cumberland shared it with her, and they will ever love and cherish his memory, and deplore the great loss which his comrades and his country have sustained.

The following is from Henry M. Cist, The Army of the Cumberland:

"His kind consideration for the feeling of others was one of his marked characteristics.  With a pure mind and large heart, his noble soul made him one of the greatest of Nature's nobleman: a true gentleman.  The experience of Chickamauga ripened his powers and developed him to his full height.  As the General who won the first victory in the West, who saved an army by his skill and valor, and who was the only General of the war on either side able to crush an army on the battlefield, George H. Thomas, "the true soldier, the prudent and undaunted commander, the modest and incorruptible patriot", stands as the model American soldier, the grandest figure of the War of the Rebellion."  

Photo of final resting place of General Thomas 

Thomas Genealogy