A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL

GEORGE H. THOMAS.

A Paper read by Major-General OLIVER O. HOWARD, U. S. A., at a Meeting of the Commandery, State of New York, Military Order Loyal Legion, October, 1890.

WELSH people have for a long time been a source of mystery and wonderment to scholars. It is now shown that they were veritable Celts; and we know that the "Celt " means a weapon made of stone or hard metal. What might we not expect of such a people? These Celts were named Welsh (the word signifies alien) because they would not be conquered by Angles, Danes, Saxons, Normans, or Romans; and were consequently alien to them all. Little by little. they had to give way in Old England; but they backed off like Thomas, "the Rock of Chickamauga," always believing in God, and fighting till they held their small Chattanooganook of Old Britain, from which neither they nor their language have ever been dislodged. A few of them, however, do emigrate for the benefit of the rest of the world. One of these, a descendant, Thomas by name, settled in Southampton, Virginia, and he, I understand, had in him strength of mind, decision, probity, and the usual hardness of character that belong to Welshmen generally. This was the father's side of George H. Thomas. But nowadays wise men tell us that the boys follow the mental calibre of the mother; that the mother makes the man.

For three hundred years the Huguenots have battled for human rights. Theirs is the best blood that runs in human veins. It is gentle, it is enterprising, it is brave, it is persistent, it is pious. Such was the origin of the mother, a bona fide French Huguenot scion. Now we are prepared for the full effect of this primary historic statement.

"George Henry Thomas was born in Southampton County, Virginia, on the 31st day of July, 1816. His father was Welsh, and his mother of French-Huguenot descent." The family had a goodly property, and so George might have lived upon the ample income; but as one would naturally suppose, this was not to be suffered. To beget in him a proper self-reliance and energy, as a boy he was made to understand that after his school days he must lay the foundations of his own fortune. It was certainly a happy hereditary combination, that of the Welsh and the Huguenot-strength and gentleness, intelligence and enterprise, decision and piety, boldness and probity, the hardness of clear grit and persistency. Is it not better than a fortune to have this Welsh and Huguenot solidarity born in one?

George H. Thomas, in many respects, is like the classic characters of ancient history, whose deeds and words have wonderfully moved mankind, concerning whom little is known except those deeds and words. Thomas's boyhood passed almost without record. One of our popular writers the other day said to me, that he had a book entitled, "A Diary of Napoleon's Friend." The book gave lively pictures of Napoleon's daily unrecorded life. From its pages the popular writer said that he gathered more information concerning Napoleon, and had a better view of the actual man, than could be obtained from any of the published historic

accounts.

Having some such feeling, with a view of giving side lights to the well-known character and work of Thomas, I sought for incidents of his childhood and youth.

Finding by correspondence that two of his sisters were still living at or near the place of his birth, I desired greatly to get some facts from them. To one of them I addressed a letter in these words:

"GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, NEW YORK HARBOR, April 12, 1890.

"DEAR MISS THOMAS:

"Your good brother was my instructor in artillery at the Military Academy, and in later years I was on duty with him a great deal.

"Recently I have been asked to write an article upon his life and character.

Now if you or your sister would write me any incidents you can remember about him, I should be very grateful. Boys usually show their traits of character early. When he became a man, he exhibited firmness and great patience, confidence in his friends, and quick forgiveness to any who, having injured him, expressed sorrow for it. He was such a thorough gentleman always, that his family have reasons to be proud of him, as doubtless you are.

"Hoping that your good sister and yourself will be willing to aid me, I am, "Very truly yours,

"MISS J. E. THOMAS, near Newsom's Depot, "Southampton County, Virginia.”

Miss Thomas was kind enough to return my letter, on the back of which she wrote: "GENERAL HOWARD: In answer to your inquiry respecting the character of the late General Thomas, I can only inform you that he was as all other boys are who are well born and well reared." That was all.

A gentleman of about Thomas's age, and who attended school with him, says: "He was a lad of few words and of an excellent spirit." An old Howard University student by the name of Scott, who is teaching a colored school near Southampton, writes me some of the words of an aged black man, named Artise. Artise is now eighty years old. He knew our hero as a little boy, before he was old enough to go to school. He says: "George was playful as a kitten when a boy, and seemed to love the negro quarters more than he did the great house. Many times he would obtain things out of the great house for the negro boys, his playmates, as he would call them."

The old man further adds: “George was the dearest lover of sugar, and at times would hook it and give it to them [the negro boys] for coons and 'possums.

"At the age of going to school, he would try to teach them at night what he knew or learned at school in the day time, but against his parents' orders."

Artise adds that "He, Massa Thomas [as he always called him], at the time he returned from the Mexican war, brought them all new suits of clothes from that country, for Sunday, and would [then] teach them the word of God."

Teacher Scott represents old Artise as a queer genius. Artise sometimes imagines that he will see Massa Thomas. again before he dies, some time again in the old Southampton County, where he once was. He often dreams of Massa Thomas and himself as boys again, under the big tree in the pasture field, playing church.

Here, then, we find a few simple sketches. A healthful boy, well reared; a lad of quick perception, but, like Moses, of few words; of ruddy countenance, and, like David, of excellent heart. He was joyous and full of condescension. In the slave times, when the "mine and thine" were not so distinctly marked as hereabouts to-day, Thomas's foraging for the little negroes was rather of the benevolent than of the necessitous kind, like that of later days in Tennessee. Sugar, it appears, is good for coons and 'possums, as well as for soldiers. His sympathy for the blacks, thus early shown by bringing them knowledge, clothing, and lastly the divine Word, is certainly remarkable, and a step or two, at least, ahead of his white neighbors.

There was a private school of the higher grade in Southampton, usually called Southampton Academy. Here the youth passed through the usual curriculum and received his diploma. Very soon after his graduation he entered the law office of James Rochelle, Esq., his mother's brother.

Thomas told this anecdote of himself, which is illustrative of two traits of character that showed themselves in his youth, and demonstrated that he was markedly practical and decidedly persistent. The experiment probably was made during a school vacation. He says the notion came to him as he was thinking of mechanical constructions to make, as one would in chemistry, some practical tests. He began with the saddle. Every day he went to the saddler's and watched the operatives, seeing how each part was cut out and prepared, and how the parts were put together. He then went home to put his knowledge into practice, and very soon succeeded in finishing a passable saddle.

Again, watching closely a cabinet maker, and imitating

him, he became in time quite skilled in the construction of furniture. He pursued his practical mechanics in other directions also, till he acquired not only the ability to make from leather, wood, and the metals many articles of use, but he formed the habit of that close observation, which our old West Point professor, Mahan, was accustomed to denomi

nate common sense.

Chaplain Van Horne gives us the origin of his military career. He says that the famous John Y. Mason, M. C. from Thomas's district, called to see his uncle, Mr. Rochelle, to tender through him a cadet appointment. The latter answered the offer thus: "Let us call the boy and ascertain what he thinks of the proposition." The boy did not fail to accept the offer, and so the whole current of his life was suddenly turned in a new direction. His letter of appointment came early enough for him to make the journey to West Point for the June examination of 1836.

General R. W. Johnson, who entered the academy the year Thomas finished, doubtless hearing the story there, remarks that, "during his plebe year, he, Thomas, was subjected to the same trying ordeals through which his predecessors had passed, but he endured them all without murmur or complaint." But I think that the elevation of soul that Thomas. must have acquired through sundry duckings, gridiron hazings, and sore shins was extraordinary; for Johnson further avers, "that when the next year his own turn came, he, Thomas, not only would not haze the new cadets,' but he gave the new plebes the benefit of his counsel and advice," and in this way secured to himself life-long friends. If anybody could do it, I believe George Thomas could bring good out of evil. You couldn't place him where he would not be a friend of the insulted, the outraged, the oppressed.

We need not linger over his academic life. It differed little from that of Sherman, Getty, Ewell, and other classmates. He had a fair preparation in his home teaching, academy and law studies. He was naturally a thorough student, and at the outset of his career at West Point, was