A thorough but readable new biography,
that is! Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas
by Benson Bobrick (Simon & Schuster 2009) is
worth a look for anyone who wants to know more about Gen. George
Henry Thomas. “The Rock of Chickamauga” was one of the greatest
Union commanders of the Civil War, but has too long been lost in the
shadows cast by U.S. Grant, William T. Sherman and Phil Sheridan.
Bobrick is clearly an admirer of
Thomas, and it shows. From the outset, he notes Thomas’s consistent
record of battlefield leadership, most notably at Mill Springs,
Corinth, Stones River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Nashville. Even
when the generals under whom he served lost battles, “Pap” Thomas
proved his steadfast courage and absolute reliability. Of all his
peers in the pantheon of leaders in blue, Bobrick notes, “Thomas was
the only Union general to destroy two Confederate armies, and the
only one... to save two Union armies from annihilation by his
personal valor and skill.”
Although Thomas was in some ways a
stolid and unflashy figure, the author humanizes him. Born and
raised in rural Southampton County, Virginia, Thomas at age fifteen
helped save his family from Nat Turner’s 1831 slave uprising. Five
years later he was appointed by a fellow Southerner, President
Andrew Jackson, to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he
befriended Sherman, Oliver O. Howard and William S. Rosecrans. Early
on, he showed the good judgment, attention to detail and the innate
intelligence that would serve him well in his Army career. He was
brevetted three times in seven years, including during the Mexican
War.
Fortunately for the nation as
secession fever swept the South, Thomas proved immune. According to
a friend, Thomas “denounced the idea [of secession] and denied the
necessity of dividing the country or destroying the government.” He
wrote to his wife Frances, “Whichever way I turned the matter over
in my mind, my oath of allegiance to my Government always came
uppermost.” (Would that Lee, Jackson, Longstreet & Co. had decided
likewise!) Thomas nevertheless had to repeatedly prove his loyalty
to the Union in the early days of the Civil War, swearing no less
than three oaths in the span of ten days. Perhaps understanding the
suspicions of his superiors, Thomas didn’t seem to mind. He told a
fellow officer, “If they want me to take the oath before each meal I
am ready to comply.” In years to come, Thomas was compared
repeatedly by his contemporaries (including Sherman, Howard, James
Garfield and William Rosecrans) to another military Virginian of
impeccable standing who placed loyalty to the United States over
that of his home state: George Washington.
Once at the front, Thomas’s star
began its steady rise. Bobrick praises Thomas’s inspirational effect
on his troops, tactical skill, mastery of logistics, care in
preparing for battle, and – different from far too many of his peers
– his utter unwillingness to throw his men’s lives away in foolish
or hasty attacks. But the author does not stop there, also
highlighting Thomas’s personal courage, knowledge of military law,
modesty, patience, religious faith, and even his kindness to animals
(a goose and a “sleek cat” were among his headquarters menagerie by
the end of the war). His leadership and his record of getting
results drew the attention of Lincoln and his advisors. Three days
after Thomas saved the day at Chickamauga, the President wrote, “It
is doubtful whether his heroism and skill… has ever been surpassed
in the world.” Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Secretary of the Navy
Gideon Welles and Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase also became
admirers.
A “practical” and not an idealistic
abolitionist, Bobrick writes, Thomas became one of the top advocates
for the use of U.S. Colored Troops, unlike Sherman. When a captured
Confederate officer turned up his nose at his USCT guards, saying,
“I’d rather die than be taken into custody by nigger troops,” Thomas
snapped, “Well, then, you’d better get ready to die, because these
are the best men I’ve got!” Bobrick squarely addresses and dismisses
the hoary criticism of Thomas for being too slow, quoting Bruce
Catton (“There was nothing slow about Thomas”) and grudging praise
on that point by Confederate generals including Stephen D. Lee and
D.H. Maury. John Bell Hood met Thomas in 1866, just two years after
Thomas had smashed his army at Nashville, and said to a friend
afterwards, “Thomas is a grand man; he should have remained with us,
where he would have been appreciated and loved.”
Why is Thomas still not given his
proper and honored place in Civil War history? Bobrick
unhesitatingly lays the blame at the feet of Grant and Sherman, who,
he writes, did all they could to undercut him in their dispatches,
correspondence and memoirs (Thomas never wrote his own memoirs,
which surely must be a factor in his lower profile today).
Unfortunately, perhaps as a means of polishing Thomas’s laurels to
an even brighter luster, I think the author goes overboard in his
condemnation of Grant and Sherman. He writes that Grant, “however
capable in some respects, remained small-minded, devious and (with
interludes) a heavy drinker to the end,” was “next to insane,” and
that his orders led to “butchery.” Sherman, although acknowledged as
an early advocate for Thomas at the War Department, later becomes,
in the author’s view, “neurotic,” “unhinged,” “unstable throughout
his career” and “arguably incompetent.” Bobrick is convinced that
Grant and Sherman actively and persistently conspired to hurt
Thomas’s career, and there is thus an unfortunate and, I think,
largely unjustified air of paranoia that hangs over his discussion
of the two.
Although a noteworthy flaw, this
does not detract too much from the overall value of the book, which
I recommend to anyone wishing to learn more about this fascinating
but still underappreciated general. “Time and history will do me
justice,” Thomas once said, and Master of War is one more important
step along the path to proving him right.
 Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas
by Benson Bobrick
Simon & Schuster 2009
(Click on link to purchase from
Amazon. Part of the proceeds from any book purchased from
Amazon through the CCWRT website is returned to the CCWRT to support
its education and preservation programs.)
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