Thomas, George Henry (1816-1870), was a leading Union general in the American Civil War (1861-1865). His courage at the Battle of Chickamauga, in Georgia, earned him the nickname “The Rock of Chickamauga.”
Thomas was born on July 31, 1816, in Southampton County, Virginia. In 1840, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Thomas fought in the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) and in the Mexican War (1846-1848). He also served as an artillery and cavalry instructor at the U.S. Military Academy. When the Civil War began in April 1861, Thomas was a major in the cavalry. Even though he was from Virginia, a Confederate state, Thomas remained loyal to the Union. This decision distanced Thomas from his family.
Early in the war, Thomas commanded troops in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. In August 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general and transferred to Kentucky. Thomas led Union troops to victory at Mill Springs, Kentucky, in January 1862. In April 1862, he was promoted to major general. Thomas fought at Perryville, Kentucky, and Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee.
In September 1863, Thomas served under Union General William S. Rosecrans at the Battle of Chickamauga. On the second day of the battle, most of the Union army, including Rosecrans himself, was driven off the battlefield and retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thomas and his Union troops, however, held their position against repeated Confederate attacks, waiting until night to withdraw to Chattanooga. For this stand, Thomas received the nickname “The Rock of Chickamauga.”
After the Battle of Chickamauga, the Confederates besieged the Union troops in Chattanooga. Union General Ulysses S. Grant came to Chattanooga with reinforcements to help stop the siege. Grant made Thomas the commander of the Army of the Cumberland, replacing Rosecrans.
In November 1863, Union troops defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Chattanooga. Thomas’s troops swept up Missionary Ridge—a fortified position in the middle of the Confederate line—and forced the Confederate army to flee. Thomas later served under Union General William T. Sherman during the Atlanta, Georgia, campaign. The North captured Atlanta in September 1864.
When Sherman began his “march to the sea”—a journey through Georgia aimed at destroying the South’s military and economic resources—he sent Thomas back to Tennessee to deal with Confederate General John B. Hood. In December 1864, Thomas attacked and crushed Hood’s troops at the Battle of Nashville. Following this triumph, Thomas was made a major general in the U.S. Regular Army.
During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, Thomas continued to command troops in the southern part of the United States. In 1869, he was transferred to San Francisco. He died there on March 28, 1870.
See also Civil War, American ; Franklin, Battle of ; Rosecrans, William Starke ; Sherman, William Tecumseh .
