GEORGE HENRY THOMAS

Born on 31 July 1816, and hailing from Southampton County, Virginia, George Henry Thomas won a seat at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Entering in 1836, his roommate there was William Tecumseh Sherman, a man whom he would one day serve alongside in the American Civil War of 1861-1865.

Graduating in the class of 1840, Thomas was commissioned as a second lieutenant of artillery and was soon in combat against the Seminoles, a tribe of Native Americans, in Florida. He would later serve as an artillery officer during the Mexican-American War (1845-1848). His handling of artillery was instrumental in enabling the capture of Monterey in September 1846, and earned him a promotion to captain. In February 1847, Thomas’s gunners prevented the collapse of the American flank at the Battle of Buena Vista, holding on long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

After the war, and now a major, Thomas went back to West Point in 1851 to serve as the head cavalry and artillery instructor. He would also marry, taking as his wife a New York woman named Frances Kellogg. Thomas won the respect of the cadets for his evenhanded application of discipline. Not all of them were pleased with his riding instruction, however. Thomas would not let his cadets let loose, insisting that they trot their horses instead of gallop, as they had expected, and wished. Thomas saw this as a chance to cultivate discipline in them, since they expected to charge. This insistence on obedience to orders was in line with Thomas’s own approach