George H. Thomas: City Namesake and Greatest Union General in the Civil War

Story and Photo By Mike Leising

Part One:

George H. Thomas was the most successful general in the Civil War, valuing strategy, and refusing to attack until his men were prepared and ready for battle.   He never lost a battle where he was in charge, seeking to first win the fight and then following  through to complete victory.  Thomas did not live long enough to write his memoirs, leaving his contemporaries Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman (Thomas served with both) to diminish his accomplishments in their favor.  He compiled an outstanding record in battles at Mill Springs, Perryville, and Stones River.  As a Corps commander, he held the center of the Union line under a ferocious assault, rallying the troops at Horseshoe Ridge to prevent a Confederate rout – earning him the nickname “The Rock of Chickamauga.”   

Promoted to command the Army of the Cumberland, he led a stunning Union victory at Chattanooga.  He won an important victory at Peachtree Creek while assisting Sherman on his march to the sea, and then returned to Tennessee to destroy the army of General John Bell Hood – making the Battle of Nashville one of the most decisive victories of the war.   He was the only Union general to destroy two Confederate armies in the field. 

Thomas was born in Virginia’s Tidewater region in 1816 into a family that enslaved people. Contemporary
accounts suggest he had limited direct exposure to the realities of slavery in his early years and, as a child, spent
time playing with other children on the family’s farm, including those who were enslaved.

He entered West Point in 1836, eventually rooming with W. T. Sherman in his last year.  Here he learned all about the science of field fortifications, and tactics of attack and defense.  He exceeded his peers by developing a better grasp of the science of infantry, cavalry, and artillery than most of his classmates.  He was a dedicated if not brilliant student. 

He served in the Mexican War in the 1840’s, where he learned that skillful cannon fire could save his soldier’s lives.  On the battlefield he saw the importance of drill, preparation, and a disciplined orderly plan of concerted attack.  After this war Thomas taught at West Point, with many of his students becoming the leading figures of the Civil War.  Here he also established a firm friendship with Robert E. Lee., who once said, “There is no more capable officer in the service.”

In the Civil War, Thomas chose to remain loyal to the Union and was put in charge of it’s most important post – Camp Dick Robinson 25 miles from Lexington.  Here he created the semblance of what would become the Army of the Cumberland that never knew defeat under Thomas’ command.   In 1862, Thomas’ first battle of the Civil War at Mill Springs, Kentucky was  the first significant Union victory of the war and checked a major Confederate attempt to take eastern Kentucky.  While this victory restored morale in his troops, it also evaporated rebel forces in Bowling Green without a fight.  In October of 1862, both Confederate and Union forces approached the hamlet of Perryville amid a terrible drought.  Traversed by a still flowing river laced by creeks and streams, the battle over fresh water commenced.  Thomas’ victory at Perryville prevented Maryland and Kentucky from falling into Confederate hands. 

In Tennessee at Missionary Ridge, Thomas led a charge following the fire of Union cannons.  The attack faced the crest of the ridge as it rose 400 feet.   As the Union charge reached the rebel rifle pits, they could be seen pursuing the rebels up the cliffs.  The federals continued to go forward executing the most spectacular assault of the war. When Thomas rode to the top of the hill in an attempt to compliment his men for the gallant manner in which they performed, a soldier commented, “Why General, we knew that you were training us for this race for three weeks.”  Wrote witness General Howard, “to storm the heights more difficult than Gettysburg, and capture batteries and entrenchments harder to reach than Vicksburg – was one of the miracles in military history.” 

Read part two in our June print issue.