Book Report

Hello everyone!

 Here is a report from last year's school work about my favorite Civil War general, George H. Thomas.

George H. Thomas

By: Justin Myers, 

 Simply put, George Henry Thomas was one of the best Union generals. Historians rank him as one of the three generals who won the Civil War for the Union. He is put with General Ulysses Grant and General William Sherman. He was an organizer like George McClellan and a fighter like Ulysses Grant. Here is his story.

 George Henry Thomas was born in July 31st, 1816 in Southhampton County, Virginia. His parents were John and Mary Thomas. His father was a plantation owner who owned many slaves. his father died when George was only 14. At the age of 18 Thomas became a cadet at West Point in New York, where he graduated 12th in his class in 1840. He was assigned to Texas, where he fought the Comanches. and Mexicans before returning to West Point in 1853 to teach. There, he married Frances Kellog at age 36.He was then assigned to Texas for a time. Everything was well..... for awhile. George Thomas' life was about to turn upside down.

 When the southern states seceded from the Union in 1861, George Thomas had a tough choice to make. He could go and join the Confederate States of America, which included his home state of Virginia. The governor there had already offered him a high ranking position there. Or, he could stick with his home country. Thomas decided on the latter. He refused the high ranking position in the Confederate army and declared that he was going to fight for his country, not his state. Soon afterwards, Thomas got a letter from his family, disinheriting him from the family. Even this didn't change his mind.

 George Thomas soon became a general in the United States army. (This was a time when the Union was short on decent generals.) He was affectionately called "Old Pap" by his soldiers because of how he cared for them. If they didn't eat, neither did he. He kept their uniforms neat and their stomachs full. He never marched until he was completely ready. But when he did, he struck like lightning, destroying everything in his path. Thomas won lasting fame at the battle of Chickamauga in Georgia. Moving slower than everyone else, his scouts were able to detect a Confederate trap wven while the rest of the soldiers where running. Thomas rallied his army, and held against the enemy onslaught for several hours. He saved the Army of the West from complete obliteration. From then on he was known as "The Rock of Chickamauga."

 George Thomas continued to win battles and was the man who broke the seige of Chattanooga in Tennessee. After the battle he ordered the mento bury the dead on a beautiful hillside. When it was time for the burials, a chaplain asked him if they should bury the men by states. He famously replied, "No, no. mix them up, mix them up. I am tired of state's rights."

After the Civil War ended, George Thomas reviewed his troops one last time, and then took control of the Department of the Cumberland, where he ordered his men to re-build houses and buildings in the South. He refused payment, and became loved by the people of Tennessee. In 1869, He took control of the Army of the Pacific in San Frisisco. He was only 53 when he died on March 28th, 1870, of a stroke. General George Thomas is remembered as one of the greatest generals in the Civil War. One of his fellow officers remarked, "He was a patriot without flaw, and a soldier without reproach."

The End

Thanks for reading!

Justin Myers