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1. George H. Thomas and Politics in the
Union army at the Battle for Chattanooga by Bob Redman, 12
Sept. 2000
Grant comes to Chattanooga with the express purpose of
creating the conditions for promoting Sherman and relegating Thomas and
Hooker to secondary
roles at best. Sherman’s political allies will then promote Grant’s
career.
As events unfold and Sherman can’t bring off even a semblance of a
victory
on his wing, Grant gets desperate and orders Thomas to sacrifice part
of
his army in order to relieve the pressure on Sherman. Thomas hinders
the
execution of the order until Hooker has begun to undermine Bragg’s left
flank.
The most highly trained army of the day then does its job and takes the
ridge,
whereupon Grant rewrites history so that it conforms to a modfied
version
of his original plan. Article based upon McKinney and Cozzens, but goes
one
logical step further. Mcfeely wrote on page 380 of his "Grant"
biography that
Grant "had outmaneuvered all the generals who might have stepped in
front
of him during the war". Fortunately for the nation this was true only
politically.
As the following article will demonstrate, Thomas outmaneuvered Grant
militarily,
and Grant never forgave him for it
.
2. Sherman and Grant vs. Thomas at Resaca
by Don Plezia, 17 Sept.
2000
- WORK IN PROGRESS
On May 7th, 1864 Sherman started his campaign to "break
up Joe Johnston's Army" as ordered by Grant. He could have won the war
in
the West On May 9th, 1864! However, he refused to acknowledge
Thomas’s strategic and tactical superiority. Thomas had fought in the
area for three years. He knew it like the back of his hand and
had in fact drawn maps of the area. Secondarily (maybe primarily),
Sherman was not going to let Thomas
overshadow again as he had done at Chattanooga. So instead,
Sherman’s
ego or perhaps his unsettled mind allowed the conflict to proceed,
until
Thomas finally Thomas ended it at Nashville, December 18th, 1864.
During
the entire “Atlanta Campaign” Sherman was content to chase Johnston
down
the tracks. Thomas never quit trying to destroy the Army of Tennessee.
.
3. 'Slow Trot' and other Thomas
nicknames! by Don Plezia,
19 Sept. 2000
The nick name “Slow Trot” was used pejoratively by
Sherman, Grant and others to deprecate Thomas and his
achievements. At times, when “Slow Trot” was not thought forceful
enough, it was reinforced by additions such as, “slow of mind, word and
deed”. How was the nickname “Slow Trot” derived
and what was it’s real meaning? Read on and you’ll find out.
.
4. The Execution of Captain Jazeb R. Rhodes, C.S.A. by Terry Foenander
Before the battle of Chattanooga Gen. Bragg, struggling
with outright rebellion from his top commanders, was aware of the
corruption
within his army and the effect this had on the daily life of the
soldiers
in his army. This report, based upon contemporary newspaper accounts,
indirectly bears witness to his concern for this problem and his
attempts to deal with it. Regardless of what Sam Watkins wrote, Bragg
was not "a bad feeder". Richmond assigned to the Army of Virginia the
choice forage areas closest to Bragg, and furthermore never granted
Bragg the authority necessary to establish a
modern command structure in the Army of Tennessee - Bob Redman, ed.
5. George H. Thomas, Practitioner of
Emancipation by Bob Redman, 5 Oct. 2000
As a boy Thomas gave family slaves bible and reading
lessons, his attitudes towards secession, views on slavery, use of
colored troops in
general, doubts about their ability to sustain combat, his employment
of colored
troops at Nashville, defense of colored troops after war, efforts to
integrate
former slaves into economy while military governer of the South.
Lincoln
was the great moral philosopher of the social revolution of the 1860's,
Thomas
was its greatest practitioner. "...measuring him by the sentiment of
his
country...he was swift, zealous, radical,and determined." Thomas ought
to
be appreciated by black and white Americans, but he is not even known
to
most people, being ignored or, at best, played down in most popular
treatments of American history.
6.The complete text of the 1882 biography The Life of Major General George H. Thomas (Part 1 pages 1-159;Part 2 pages 160-310; Part 3 pages 311-465) by Thomas Van Horne. In his 1875 History of the Army of the Cumberland, Van Horne had restrained himself, in keeping with Thomas's wish to avoid controversy. However, in his biography Van Horne, reacting to the crude polemics of the Grant apologists, took the gloves off. Compared to the mendacity of Badeau & co., Van Horne's occasional exagerations are mild. This book has not been reprinted since 1882, and you can not get it through interlibrary loan because it is falling apart. We are saving this book for posterity.
7. On the Causes of the Civil War, a short essay by Bob Redman, Oct. 2000
8. The
Pioneer Brigade by Geoffrey
L. Blankenmeyer, 11 Nov. 2000
By August of 1862, the Union offensive into Tennessee
had bogged down. A new commander, William Starke Rosecrans, was put in
charge of the Union forces in Nashville to renew an advance the coming
spring. Rosecrans, an engineer by training, knew that he required the
proper logistical support to sutain a successful drive into the
Southern Heartland. When his overtures
to Washington for an increase in engineers was refused, Rosecrans
developed
his own units with the men he had on hand. Therefore on November
3,
1862 by General Order #3, the Pioneer Brigade sprang to life. And
it
was these handpicked men that lead Rosecrans' Army of the Cumberland
from Nashville to Chattanooga with musket as well as with spade. In
fact, it was the only unit to receive Congressional recognition as a
unit when reformed as the First United States Veteran Vounteer
Engineers in May, 1864. This is the story of those Pioneers.
9. A series of newspaper articles which Karl Marx wrote about the Civil War.
10. A brief treatment of the Spencer
repeater and other Civil War breechloading rifles by Bob
Redman, Jan. 2001
About 40 different models of breechloading rifles and
carbines were introduced during the Civil War, but the 7-shot repeating
Spencer was the best and the most important of them. Its breech
mechanism was primitive compared to later mechanisms and required hand
cocking of the hammer, but it was reliable under abuse and adverse
conditions. At Hoover's Gap on 24 June 1863 the firepower it gave
Wilder's Lightning Brigade under Thomas completely overwhelmed Wheeler
and Hardee and changed the course of the war.
11. Thomas Shows He's No Slacker in
Taking the Offensive by Robert
Meiser, first printed in the Washington Times on 8 Jan.
2000
Summary: It assuredly is especially tragic when
a soldier loses his life in a useless or mismanaged battle or
campaign. Fortunate indeed therefore were those who served under
George Thomas, for there was no more competent commander on either
side, North or South, to
whom one could entrust one's life. He wasted no lives because he
made
no significant mistakes, yet at the same time he accumulated a long
record
of remarkable military achievement. In fact, Thomas appears to be
the only Civil War general on either side of whom this can be
said. This article reviews the facts and adds voice to those who
argue for a long overdue reevaluation of Thomas's record and place in
history, in line with what this remarkable man deserves.
12. Gen. George
H.
Thomas: Chief Conservator of the Union and Victim of Gross Historical
Injustice:
A Compendium of Sources in Support of the Argument by Robert N. Meiser, June 15, 2003
Summary: A scholarly
evaluation of the current state of historical analysis of the role
Thomas played in
determining the outcome of the Civil War and the fate of the nation.
13. Outline of a short essay about the Confederate railroads.
14. A
Storm in
the Cedars: Colonel John F. Miller’s Brigade at the Battle of Stone’s
River by Daniel A. Masters.
This is a digest
of a chapter from his coming book on the battle.Col. Miller's role was
similar
to that of Chamberlain at Gettysburg.
15. Schofield vs. Stanley,
by Bob Redman, 25 July 03. The story of the campaign within a campaign
to plant Schofield in Thomas' pick-up army before the battle of
Nashville.
16. Photographic essay Bring Thomas Home,
by Bob Redman, 11 Aug. 03. A discussion of why Americans, and among
them Virginians,
and among Virginians the residents of the county where Thomas was born,
should
better appreciate Thomas.
17. Sheridan's Ride at Chickamauga,
by Bob Redman, 2 Sept. 03. An exposure of Sheridan's attempt to
cover up his worst day in the Civil War.
18. "Days of
Glory" by Larry J. Daniel: A review by Don Plezia (24 May 2004).
"There are many more incidents of these contortions of the truth or
poor research by the Reverend Daniel. They are too many to refute
individually, so I’ll leave it to the reader to question the need for
this attempt to revise history."
19. "The
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain: Sherman's
Worst Day of the War" by
Bob Redman, 26 Nov. 2009. New first draft.
20. “Time
and History Will Do Me Justice” - George H. Thomas and his place in
history by Brett Michael Mills M.A.. Good summary of
Thomas' military career.
hue 20, sat 240, lum 210, red 255, green 223, blue 191