When Gen. Hood placed his whole force across the railroad north of Atlanta, and, turning his cavalry loose in Tennessee, threatened to cut off supplies from Sherman's army, Gen. Thomas was sent to Nashville, while Gen. Sherman prepared for his march to the sea. At the end of October the 4th and 23d corps were sent to Tennessee, with instructions to Gen. Thomas to use them in guarding the line of the river during Sherman's absence. It was supposed that Hood would follow Sherman's army through Georgia, but it was soon found that the entire force that had confronted Sherman on his way to Atlanta was now threatening Thomas. All the available troops were concentrated, and Hood's advance was resisted to the utmost. After a series of escapes from desperate hazards, a part of the two National corps under Gen. John M. Schofield, on the afternoon of 30 Nov., 1864, at Franklin, Tenn., signally defeated the repeated assaults of Hood's army, inflicting upon it irreparable losses, including six generals killed and a large number wounded. That night the National force retired to Nashville, where it was re-enforced by a corps from Missouri and a division from Chattanooga. Hood boldly advanced to the vicinity and fortified himself. Nearly all Thomas's mounted force had accompanied Sherman, leaving all the remaining cavalry to be remounted. The troops from Missouri and Chattanooga were destitute of transportation. Thus in midwinter, at 200 miles from the main base of supplies, and in the presence of a bold and active enemy, he had thrust upon him a task that at any time was almost overwhelming. Some called him “slow,” yet, within two weeks from the day when his unsupplied and dismounted army reached Nashville, it was ready to take the field. But Gen. Grant at City Point grew so impatient over what he considered needless delay, that he issued an order dismissing Gen. Thomas from command, and directing him to report to one of the corps commanders. After a fuller explanation of the causes of the delay, this unexampled order was suspended, but Gen. Grant himself set out for the scene of operations. A terrible storm of sleet and rain, freezing as it fell, came up on 9 Dec., rendering all movement impossible. On the 14th a thaw began. On the 10th and 16th, in exact accordance with the detailed order of battle, the confident troops of Gen. Thomas, who had never lost faith in their leader, by skilful and energetic movements, completely overthrew the last organized Confederate army in the southwest. A feeble remnant, despoiled of guns and transportation, came together some weeks later at Tupelo, Miss., nearly 250 miles distant. As an army it never again took the field.
What Gen. Thomas accomplished in this campaign, and with what means, cannot be better told than in the words of his despatch to Gen. Halleck on 21 Dec.: “I fought the battles of the 15th and 16th with the troops but partially equipped; and notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather and the partial equipment, have been enabled to drive the enemy beyond Duck river, crossing two streams with my troops without the aid of pontoons, and with but little transportation to bring up supplies of provisions and ammunition. . . . Too much must not be expected of troops that have to be reorganized, especially when they have the task of destroying a force, in a winter campaign, which was enabled to make an obstinate resistance to twice its numbers in spring and summer.” Following this great victory came the operations of the cavalry as organized by Gen. Thomas in Alabama and Georgia, resulting in the taking of Selma and the capture of Jefferson Davis. But the battle of Nashville was substantially the end of the rebellion in that quarter. For it he received the appointment of major-general in the U. S. army, accompanied by the assurance of the secretary of war that “no commander has more justly earned promotion by devoted, disinterested, and valuable services to his country.” He also received the thanks of congress and of the legislature of Tennessee, together with a gold medal presented to him by the latter body on the first anniversary of the battle.
With the close of the war, Gen. Thomas bent all his energies to the restoration of peace and order throughout his command. In May, 1869, he was placed in command of the military division of the Pacific, and held it until his death. Though he had seen more continuous, varied, and active service than any officer of his age and rank in the army, Gen. Thomas was emphatically a lover of peace. His whole nature and disposition were orderly, gentle, and kindly. He abhorred war, not merely because of its cruelty, but also because of the turmoil and disorder it occasioned. Though a lover of home life, he never was allowed to remain long in one place, the average length of time that he was stationed at any one post being less than five months. He enjoyed the calm and peaceful life of nature, loving trees and flowers and the open air. His range of reading was not very wide, but he was well acquainted with natural science, was a good geologist, expert in woodcraft, and well versed in botany. The museums of the Smithsonian institution contain rare and curious specimens contributed by him. In his own profession he was thoroughly trained in all departments, so that, when he was placed in command of a corps, he had had personal experience of every arm of the service. When the war ended he was the only general officer of high rank and distinction (except Sheridan and Hancock) who had served uninterruptedly in the army. He had carefully studied military and international law, and especially the constitution of the United States, and was a thorough believer in the ideas on which the government was based. No man was ever more scrupulous to subordinate the military to the civil power. The general of the army, his classmate and life-long friend, in announcing his death, said: “The very impersonation of honesty, integrity, and honor, he will stand to posterity as the beau-idéal of the soldier and gentleman. Though he leaves no child to bear his name, the old Army of the Cumberland, numbered by tens of thousands, called him father, and will weep for him in tears of manly grief.” He was buried with all the honors of his rank at Troy, N. Y., on 8 April, 1870. A fine equestrian statue, in bronze, by J. Q. A. Ward, erected by the soldiers of his old army, perpetuates his appearance and features in the capital of the country. (See illustration.) His biography has been written by Thomas B. Van Home (New York, 1882).
