Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-11-21
Gen. Geo. ii. Thomas.

The statue of General George ii. Thomas,
erected by the Society of the Army of the
Cumberland. Ii is claimed to be one of the
finest works of art in the city. The horse has
the 1.-THE limbs and slender body of thor
oughbred, and stands on an incline, his fore
feet higher than his hind feet, and evidently
shifts the fight, the progress of which his rid
err is watching. The head is turned slightly
to the right, and the distended nostrils and
fine effect. The portrait of Gen. Thomas is
very faithful. Mr.. Ward began work on the
statue nearly six years ago, and the design
was completed by him in Paris some six
months ago. The casting was made by Blu
reau Bros. & Heaton, of Philadelphia, and
Mr.. Ward declares that the work has never
been equaled even by the celebrated Munich
foundry. The statue stands fifteen feet high
and weighs 1900 pounds. 1t arrived in ten
pieces, and was mounted on the 18th
inst, on granite pedestal put
up by the U. S. Government. The
statue itself was paid for by the Army of the
Cumberland, who gave $4,000 for it, $780,
600 to Mr.. Ward and $4,000 to the found
ers.
The site selected for the statue is the spot
where the salute of SEQ guns was fred on
April 3, 1865, in honor of the fall of Peters
burg and capture of Richmond, and one week
later another salute of 500 guns, in honor of
the surrender of Lees army The statue
faces south, the line of vision being directly
toward Arlington, the home of Gen. Lee. 1t
is in the circle formed by the intersection of
some of the finest avenues OF the city-Mas-
sachusetts and Vermont avenues, and Four
teenth and NJ streets. A short distance down
Fourteenth street is Mcpherson square, in
which stands the bronze equestrian statue of
the officer, after whom the square is named;
and block or two west, on Massachusetts,
avenue, is the Scott statue.
Mr. Matthews in his Grafton sketched the
earlier career of Gen. Thomas from the time
of entering West Point, in 1886, at the age of
20, up TO the opening of the War of the Re-
bellion in 1861. He pronounced him model
soldier, who had chosen the profession of
arms, had perfected himself conscientiously
in it, and whose sole ambition was to re-
ceive the rewards which it held out to merit
The orator then continued:
At the beginning of the rebellion, in 1861.
he had attained the 45th year of his age, the
full age of a matured and ripened manhood.
He was no longer in the flush and hey-day of
impetuous youth. He had grown to his
stature gradually and slowly, as always
grows timber, close grained and of fine fibre.
What he was capable of doing he had learned
to do in the usual exercise and the natural
processes of his understanding He was
neither genius, accomplishing results with
out apparent means, by lightning strokes of
magic, and mere will nor was he favorite
child of fortune. winning success by accident
and chance, against odds, plucking the flower
safety out of the nettle danger, when by COM
mon laws Of human conduct, he ought to have
suffered the penalty of rashness and IMPROVE
dence. One of the valuable lessons of his
military career is, that every success rests
upon the rational basis Of n thorough organ
ization of the means necessary to insure it
that valor is nothing better than blind and
bloody persistence, unless supported on
either flank by knowledge and prudence.
This was the secret of one of the chief
vi MS WOTk-ltS tuOrOugnnpSS.
He did nothing by halves. He wasted no
material or time in experiments. the issue of
which was indeterminate. lie did not worry
and wear out his ranks in purposeless march
es and counter-marches, to make them be-
lieve he was doing something, when he was
not. He carefully nursed and provided for
them, so as to bring his troops to the high
est point in spirit and efficiency, and kept
them well in hand. He determined what
most importantend was reasonably practical
bic he matured the plan best adapted to secure
its accomplishment, and carefully gathered
and organized the means necessar, for its ex-
ecutien. And then when all things were
ready, he launched the dread thunderbolt of
power. and with one stroke, dealt the destruc-
tion he had devised. Mill Spring and Nash
ville-his first and last battle in the West
are capital illustrations of this feature of his
military character.
Several other incidents of the war were re-
lated showing the courage and military skill
a