arded by Colonel McKibben, but not delivered
until the 29th.(26) Buell immediately turned over his command to
Thomas, but the latter, with his natural modesty, protested against
accepting it in the emergency. Halleck suspended the order, and
Buell again resumed command, announcing Thomas as second in
command.(26)

More than a year elapsed before General Thomas was again given so
important a command as the one he thus declined, and then he relieved
Rosecrans and took command of the Army of the Cumberland when it
was besieged by Bragg at Chattanooga. Thomas, though diffident to
a degree, was one of our greatest soldiers. He served uninterruptedly
from the opening to the close of the war, distinguishing himself
in many battles, especially at Stone's River, at Chickamauga, on
the Atlanta campaign (1864), and at Nashville, December 15 and 16,
1864. He was admired, almost adored, by the soldiers of the Army
of the Cumberland, and he deserved their affection. His principal
characteristics differed from those of Grant, Sherman, Meade, or
Sheridan, who, though great soldiers, each differed in disposition,
temper, and quality from the others. General Thomas, being a
Virginian by birth, was at first expected and coaxed to go into
the rebellion, then later he was abused and slandered by statements
coming from the South to the effect that he had contemplated going
with his State. There is no evidence that he ever wavered in his
loyalty to the Union.

I had Grant's opinion of General Thomas as a commanding officer
when I was making an official call on him at City Point, December
5, 1864, just at the time Hood was besieging Nashville. Grant had
been urging Thomas to fight Hood and raise the siege, fearing, as
Grant then said, Hood would cross the Cumberland and make a winter
raid into Kentucky. Thomas refused to fight until fully ready.
Grant, after inquiring of me about the roads and hills around the
south of Nashville, of which I had acquired some knowledge in the
spring and fall of 1862, said, somewhat impatiently:

"Thomas is a great soldier, and though able, at any time, with his
present force to whip Hood, he lacks confidence in himself and the
disposition to assume the offensive until he has seventy-five per
centum of the chances of battle, in his own opinion, in favor of
success."

Thomas was born July 31, 1816, and died in San Francisco, March
28, 1870. His body is buried at Troy, N. Y. Sherman, in command