Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-04-12
IN his Washington eulogy of GEN
eral Thomas, Horace Maynard said
of the naonla of T-ennassne.

His memory is very precious to the peO-
pie of that State. Go where you will, you
will not find a cabin where his name is
not known and his memory reVered.
They struck in his honor g medal of gold,
and cherish it with something of the feel
ings which gather round visible objects
connected with u religious worship.
1t is not our business or wish to dis
parage the memory of General Thom-
as. But we cannot in Tennessee af-
firm the truth of this extravagant
statement, and we ought MOTTO falsify
history and the facts. And1fmen will
overpraise, they must expect the
counterpart to follow in the interest Of
truth itself. General Thomas it seems
was in the outset Of the war an Ill
traist for southern rights, even going
so far as to draw forth from General
Lee the advice to moderate his tone.
The Richmond Examiner has stated
that he resigned his commission as a
United States officer and went to
Richmond to offer his services to the
COnfederacy. But he afterward
changed his mind and went back to
the north to return as a foe, the resig-
nation of Johnston and Lee having
made him in the meanwhile a full
colonel Of cavalry. OF what followed
the New Orleans Picay1pe speaks
carefully, temperately and trqthfully,
as follows:
His career in the Union army afforded
full evidence of the old English saying,
that II renegade is worse than ten
Turks" as he world has ever Known.
Apparently he took particular delight in
destroying Southern property, Outraging
the rights and feelings of SOutherners,
and inficting upon them the full meas
ure of the horrors n Inconvenience of
war. Never during the contest, or since
it closed, did he fail TO misrepresent, or
to SANDER the adherents of the Confed-
eracy, particularly those in Kentucky
ami Tennessee, where most of his servi-
ces were performed. Stained, however, ~
he was by the infamy of renegadism, he
was not without conspicuous qualities.
He was a braYe,i fearless soldier, and a
good diseiplinarian, and won the admira-
ton and affection of his troops. Stern
as his perverted nature was, he was not
the cold butcher that Grant, Sherman and
Sheridan showed themselves to be. He
never descended to the level of Butler,
Dow and some other Federal officers, by
stealing private property from the inhab-
itants of the country which he occupied,
for his WI use. He never disgraced
himself by bullying ~defenseless men, or
insulting refined ana delicate women.
That is about all which we think even the
most liberal Southern journal can say in
his behalf, and we can say it cheeTtully as
his rightful due.
To Virginians, the shameful detection
to Thomas to the Southern cause~ was Pc
culiarly humiliating, as his careet Mex
leo had enlisted the pride and adE alton
of that noble and generous people, His
name,j Joined with that of WINFIELD t,
whom he resembled not a little in pea
sOnal appearance, will go down to poster
ity covered with their reprobatiOn. He
was alone, among his family, in this
treachery to his native land. for his brother
was an officer in the Confederate army;
and a spirited and patriotic sister, one of
those Virginia matrons who stood out
during the desOlation of their proud old
Commonwealth by the Federal armies,
in the resplendent majesty of devotion
and self-sacrifce, is reported TO lave an
swered an application for the sword which
the State had presented to her recreant
brother, by saying that he should not have
it, as Virginia had presented it to a son of
whom she was then proud, but that the
hand of a traitor should never grasp its
hilt. But the man has gone to his last ac-
count, having by his life offenses sacri-
feed all claim to a niche in the same COM
memorative temple of Lee and Stonewall
Jackson, and won only the very doubtful
compliment of sharing such honOrs with
the ruthless desotatsrs of t%yranical OPP
u.-, - HE nneHw~a HaT1 aHl ~ HE 100
est kindred. Few should envy him such
a fate.