The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-20
GEN. GEORGE HI. THOMAS.

Who is the most popular of the four
great leaders which the late war developed?
If an answer were sought in the names of
Grand Army posts, it would undoubtedly
be George H. Thomas. The largest post in
the country is that in Chicago. bearing his
name. with a membership of over 100. The
largest post in Indiana bears the same
name. while another is called Pap
In every Western State there
is a Thomas post, and one in most the
Eastern States He was q man who at
tached to him very firmly all the good
soldiers who served under him. Still, he
was distinctly the opposite of Sherman and
Sheridan. He had none Of their contagious
enthusiasm. which was irresistible; and
yet the cause of that unbounded affection
which the men of the historic Army of the
Cumberland and that larger army whose
survivors are justly proud to have it known
that they were under Thomas in the decis-
i've battles of Franklin and Nashville, is
on the surface. Pap Thomas explains it.
The natural boy believes in his father with
that same sort of affection for and con-
fdence that the soldier of the Army of the
Cumberland had in his Pap" Thomas. They
believed in him. To them he was the per-
sonification of invincibility.
These observations are called forth by the
appearance of the General Thomas" an
nounced some time since, in the Great
commanders" series of d. Appleton & Co.
1t is a very neat volume of 325 pages, writ
ten by Professor Coppee, a graduate of
west Point, and it will be the most well
come gift which can be presented the
thousands Of now elderly men whose bos-
oms swell with pride and in those faded
eyes the old fire Will flame up when there
falls upon their ears the words, Army of
the Cumberland"
George H. Thomas was born in south
eastern Virginia, June 81, 1916. He had availed
himself of the advantages of the academy
in the vicinity, and was a clerk in one of
the county offices when John Y. Mason,
subsequently a secession leader, and of
Slidell and Mason fame, offered him a
West Point cadetship. When he thanked
Mason on his way to New York the states
man said to him: II have named three
cadets, none of whom has graduated, so
don't let me see your face unless you shall
be graduated" When, in subsequent years,
the name of Thomas lowered as the Union
Rock Of Chickamauga," Mason must nave
wished that his fourth apprentice had been
'plucked." He entered West Point in June,
1S36-just before he was twenty years of
age. One of his roommates was William T.
Sherman, and Hood, whom he overwhelmed
at Nashville, twenty-eight years later, was
a classmate. He was a s~ix-footer, we'll set
up, and a stalwart. when members of the
higher class undertook to haze u.s." said
General Sherman. "old Tom seized one of
them and told him that if they did not
leave the room he would throw him
through the window" He graduated SO
high in a large class that he was assigned
to the artillery. He Joined his command,
then in Florida, to fight Indians, and saw
all the service there. He next saw service
in Fort Moultrie, Baltimore, and when the
Mexican war broke out he went thither I'M
der General Taylor. He won laurels as an
artillerist and gallant soldier in Mexico,
and was twice brevetted, the second being
the rank of major. After the war he was
stationed at West Point as an instructor.
While there he made the acquaintance of a
Miss Kellogg, of Troy, n. Y, whom he mar
ried in November, 1852. In the reorganiza-
ton of the cavalry service. in 1856. by JEFF
ferson Davis, then Secretary of War, he
was assigned to the Second Regiment as
major, all his associates being men who
were prominent in the confederate army
0lQICy OiiiiolOH INOOCll II. 1tS LII
Hardee. Thus. more than six years before
the outbreak of the South did the arch
conspirator plot to make a cavalry regi-
ment one which could be used by the
South.
When the war came Thomas was having
his first extended leave of absence, and suf-
fering from an accident. A Virginian. it was
assumed that he would go with his State
and thus add another capable West Point
graduate to the rebel army; but he held
to a loyalty higher than devotion to a
State. Even before the bombardment OF
Fort Sumter he had decided to stand by
the Union and the flag he had sworn to
defend. True, there is a story abroad that
he offered to join the South. During the
winter before the war he was so crippled
that he feared he could never take
active service again, and, seeing an ad-
yertisement for an instructor for a military
academy in Virginia, he wrote a letter, APP
plying for it. To all appeals to join the
South he turned a deaf ear. Because he
stood for the Union he was ostracised by
his kindred in Virginia. To them he was as
one dead. Only two sisters survived the
war, and it is said they would not see him
He became colonel of the Second Cavalry
at once, but yet he was distrusted. When
General Sherman was called by President
Lincoln to inspect a list of brigadier-gener-
ais he was about to send to the Senate, in
1861. he found that Thomas was not among
them.
why don't you nominate Thomas?" in
quired Sherman.
Mr.. Lincoln said that there were some
doubts about his loyalty.
Mr.. President exclaimed Sherman,
''Old Tom is as loyal as | am, and as a
soldier he is superior to all on the list"
"WiIl you be responsible for him?' asked
Mr.. Lincoln.
with the greatest pleasure" replied his
LOYAL classmate. His name was sent to the
Senate and he was confirmed. 1t then oc-
Cured TO Sherman that he had not seen
Thomas for twenty years. and that he may
have made a mistake. Finding that Thorn
as was with his regiment, eight miles from
Washington, Sherman made haste to find
him. When they met Sherman said: tom.
you are a brigadier-general, but" he added,
there are some stories about your loyal
~. How are you going?"
Billy" replied Thomas, I'm going
South"
MY God!" exclaimed Sherman, you have
put me in an awful position. / have be-
come responsible for your loyalty"
Give yourself no trouble, Billy" replied