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

movements which led to the half-fought
battle OF Perryville, and was at the siege
OF Corinth; but the next battle of impor-
lance in which he was a conspicuous figure
was that Of Stone River, Dec. 81, 1862. 1t
was a position in which General Bragg
had the advantage, and he had as large, If
not a slightly larger, army than did Rose
Grams, who had been sent to take command
OF the armies which Thomas should have
led. The first day was well nigh disas-
trous to the Union side. There had been
desperate fighting and the confederates had
turned and doubled up the Union right. but
Thomas's GOODNESS and tactics prevented
disaster. At night Rosecrans held a coun-
Gil. but Thomas declared that the army
could not retreat. A new line was formed
and fifty guns were masked, awaiting an
attack by the enemy. Then a brigade ad-
vanced towards Bragg's right, whereupon
that officer. confident of being able to over
power his enemy, launched two divisions
upon Rosecrans's left. 1t was not opposed
until the confederates were into the trap,
when the fifty guns opened a fire which
caused CONSERVATION and flight in disorder,
with great loss. Thus in a few minutes
the whole situation was changed. Soon
after Bragg fed from Murfreesboro.
And now We come to that great and
bloody battle in which Thomas displayed
the highest ~soldierly qualities. From that
time forth the Rock of Chickamauga' has
been held to be one of the great Union
leaders. and has been the object of the
highest and unchanging admiration OF the
people who rejoice in the success Of the
Union cause. In the history of. modern
wars there has been no grander character
than was Thomas on that occasion. MY
army has been whipped and routed tele-
graphed General Rosecrans TO Washington,
the afternoon of the second day. The COM
mander judged from the half demoralized
men who were crowding TO the rear. He did
not see that semi-circle held by twenty-five
thousand men, which, for two days, had re-
ceived the assaults of all of Bragg's army
and the corps of Longstreet from the rebel
armies in Virginia Other generals whose
troops were a mob seem to have lost their
heads, but those with Thomas and their
men were inspired by his GOODNESS and
shared his faith. He had never been in a
battle which was lost, and he had about
him men who had known him for two years
and believed him to be invincible. There
was no more desperate fighting during the
war than at Chickamauga. With Bragg,
loss of men had come to be of no conse-
.quence if he could but beat Thomas out of
shis position and then hurl himself upon the
routed army separated from its base. The
men whom Thomas had inspired to resist
these assaults had reached that state of
cool determination when life is secondary to
the purpose for which 1t is thrown away.
The first day Bragg's army was hurled
against the Rock of Chickamauga" time
and time again, to be beaten into red spray
N @ tho -oxya nf tho ~ hnafan into
white foam as they strike the high cliffs.
After two days of that unparalleled pound
ing. Thomas marched his men to a new line.
and, what to Rosecrans was irretrievable
disaster stands in history as a drawn battle.
Had ten thousand of the men who pushed
to the rear been turned back to Thomas's
aid, as they might have been by resolute
leaders, Chickamauga would have been a
Union triumph SO complete that Chattanoo-
g., with its Missionary Ridge and Lookout
Mountain, would have had no page in the
history of grand events. The losses on both
sides were. without parallel, sixteen thou
sand Union in killed, wounded and missing,
and eighteen thousand confederates. AS long
as the history of the Republic shall be read,
Thomas at Chickamauga will stand forth
as one of its grandest characters. Greater
achievements were to add laurels to his
brow, but his heroic personality will ever
ice most conspicuous as the Rock of Chick
amauga."
The share which fell to him in the splen-
did operations which eliminated In the dis
aster to Bragg before Chattanooga upon
the capture of Missionary Ridge was most
important. Whatever others did there, and
all did we'll, it was a part of Thomas's Army
of the CUMBERLAND which made that charge
up the front of Missionary Ridge, so daz-
zling in execution that General Grant
viewed it with CONSERVATION. AS long as
men are thrilled by gallant deeds that
charge will glow upon the page of history.
Nor will space be taken here to tell of
the part which Thomas took in that great
campaign under Sherman, which eliminated
in the capture of Atlanta Thomas was
my wheel horse" said Sherman The cam
paign may have added to the reputation of
Thomas as a soldier, but not to his popu-
larity as a leader with army and people.
Atlanta captured, Joe Johnston's once splen-
did army was so reduced under the sg-
gressive method of Hood that there was not
enough of it left to face such an army as
Sherman then had and two such command
ers as Sherman and Thomas. 1t was under
these conditions that the plan of the famous
March to the Sea, a conception of Sherman,
was ADOPTED. sherman look the larger
share of the army, and was four days OF
his journey before Hood detected his alb
sence. Thereupon he left Sherman to his
forty days picnic and devoted himself to
Thomas.
At the outset Hood had the larger army,
and it was well in hand, while the force
which Thomas was to use was scattered
and must be concentrated and increased
ere he could cope with his eager antag-
onist. Hood was in full accord with JEFF
ferson Davis. Their scheme was to over
whelm Thomas, make a diversion into the
North and thus compel Grant to unhand
Lee at Richmond, while Sherman was so
far away that he could render neither
Grant nor Thomas assistance. Hoods
army was not large enough to warrant
such a bold stroke. but Davis saw re-
cruits rallying to his standards as Hood
marched northward, and Hood was prom
Used endorsements from beyond the Mis-
sissippi. The recruits did not rally; the
promised endorsements did not come.
Thomas's plan was to fall back to Nash
vile and concentrate his widely-scattered
forces there for battle. With such a man
as Hood after him this was no easy task.
Hood had already lost q leg and an arm,
but was yet a brilliant soldier, ready to
fight but reckless in emergencies-one
whom Sherman placed far below Joe
Johnston and TAnoStraat in obility hat