The National tribune., 1910-11-10
GEN. THOMAS RIvouAcINe AT CHATTANOOGA

after his death, wrote to his sisters at
tbe old homestead in Virginia, asking
for incidents of the boyhood of their
brother In reply they said merely that
the boyhood OF Gen. Thomas was like
that of any other boy who was well
born and well reared.
. What a patient man was Thomas! He
must have. known his own merit as a
soldier, and it must have been keen
+disappointment TO him to find men so
much his inferior preferred before him
by the Government ne was serving at
such heavy cost. He had his chance in
September, 1862 but pushed it aside
out of a sense of loyalty to his superior,
Gen. Buell., then on the point of fighting
The battle of PerryviHe, Ky. He wrote
to Ger. Halleck, in command of all our
armies, that as Gen. Buell. had his plans
laid for the approaching engagement he
did not deem it just to supersede him at
that juncture.
: Later. when it was decided to remove
Buell. and Rosecrans was given COM
stland of that army, Gen. Thomas was
moved to write to Halleck, expressing
surprise at being placed under COM
naaDd of his junior in rank. To this
Falleck replied that he was the one who
had secured the promotion of Thomas
TO Major Generalship in the Spring of
1852 III order that he might command
the center in the Corinth campaign;
that it was with much difficulty that he
had gained authority for Thomas to
succeed Buell. in September, and that
having then declined the command, it
was now impossible to again have him
appointed to il. He added that Rose
craTs's commission antedated that Of
Thomas. To this Gen. Thomas wrote in
reply, warmly thanking Halleck for the
kind tone of his letter, and saying that
he had no objection to serving under
Rosecrans now that he knew OF his
relative rank
For more than year after Perry
vile the Government permitted one of
its greatest soldiers TO remain a mere
division and corps commander. Then
came the battle of Chickamauga in
September, 1863, when Gen. Thomas
was the only corps commander who did
not retreat Even the army command
er, Gen. Rosecrans, fled, supposing that
i1he day was lost. He rode in haste to
: Chattanooga, II miles away, and there
learned that Thomas and his Fourteenth
Corps were still fighting on the ground
they had held all day.
!. Charles A. Dana was then with the
army as a representative of Secretary
of War Stanton. He had recently been
with Grants army at Vicksburg, whence
he had written many caustic letters of
criticism concerning officers of high and
low rank who had come under his OBJ
servation. 1t is somewhat surprising
that he did not have some words OF
condemnation Of Gen. Rosecrans on this
occasion. Perhaps the explanation lies
IN the fact that he was himself one Of
the first 10 arrive at Chattanooga from
the field of carnage, and that he rushed
an 'All Is lost dispatch to Stanton as
soon as he could reach a telegraph Of
fee. The next day, when he learned
the facts, he was enabled to send an
other dispatch telling a different story.
No more pathetic spectacle was pre-
sented during the war than that of
Thomas's position at Nashville in De-
oeinber, 1864. When Sherman started
on the march 10 the sea he sent Thomas
back north with the Fourth and Twen-
ty-third Corps TO keep track of Hood.
Gen. A. j. Smith, with the First and
Third Divisions Of the Sixteenth Corps,