General George Henry Thomas 1 As Portrayed by Robert Thomas 1

General George henry ThoMAs 1 As Portrayed by Robert Thomas 1 George Henry Thomas was born on July 31, 1816 in Ridge in the Battle of Chattanooga. In the Franklin- Newsom’s Depot, Virginia. Thomas was appointed to Nashville Campaign of 1864, he achieved one of the West Point in 1836, and was a career United States Army most decisive victories of the war, destroying the army officer and a Union General during the American Civil of Confederate General John Bell Hood, at the Battle War, one of the principal commanders in the Western of Nashville. Theater. After the end of the Civil War, Thomas commanded At the outbreak of the Civil War, 19 of the 36 officers in the Department of the Cumberland in Kentucky and the 2nd U.S. Cavalry resigned, includ- Tennessee, and at times also West ing three of Thomas’s superiors—Albert Virginia and parts of Georgia, Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, and Mississippi and Alabama, through William J. Hardee. Many Southern- 1869. During the Reconstruction born officers were torn between period, Thomas acted to protect loyalty to their states and loyalty to freedmen from white abuses. He set their country. Thomas struggled with up military commissions to enforce the decision but opted to remain with labor contracts since the local courts the United States. His Northern-born had either ceased to operate or wife and his dislike of slavery prob- were biased against blacks. Thomas ably helped influence his decision. In also used troops to protect places response, his family turned his picture threatened by violence from the Ku against the wall, destroyed his letters, Klux Klan. and never spoke to him again. During President Andrew Johnson offered the economic hard times in the South Thomas the rank of lieutenant after the war, Thomas sent some money general, with the intent to eventually to his sisters, who angrily refused to replace Grant, a Republican and accept it, declaring they had no brother. future president, with Thomas as Thomas served in the Mexican-American general in chief, but the ever-loyal War and later chose to remain with the Thomas asked the Senate to with- United States Army for the Civil War, draw his name for that nomination despite his heritage as a Virginian. He because he did not want to be party won one of the first Union victories in to politics. the war, at Mill Springs in Kentucky, and In 1869, he requested assignment to served in important subordinate com- command the Division of the Pacific mands at Perryville and Stones River. His with headquarters at the Presidio stout defense at the Battle of Chickamauga of San Francisco. He died there of a in 1863 saved the Union Army from being stroke while writing an answer to an article completely routed, earning him his most famous criticizing his military career by his wartime nickname, the “Rock of Chickamauga.” He followed rival John Schofield. None of his blood relatives soon after with a dramatic breakthrough on Missionary attended his funeral. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, in Troy, New York. George Henry Thomas is portrayed by Robert Thomas..

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