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Then nobly he'll bear the bold hearts o'er
The waves, with bounding leap.
O, may those hearts be as firm and true,
When the war-clouds gather dun,2
As the glorious oak that proudly grew
Beneath our southern sun.

GNÄRL'ED (närl'ed; here, närld). 2 DUN. Dark; gloomy.
Knotty; twisted.

LXXIII. CHARACTER OF GENERAL THOMAS.

GARFIELD.

[James A. Garfield was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1831. He was chosen to Congress in 1862, entered the army as a volunteer, and rose to the rank of majorgeneral. He was again chosen to Congress in 1866, and has since been a leading member of the House of Representatives.]

1. THERE are now living not less than two hundred thousand men who have served under the eye of General Thomas. They have seen him in sunshine and in storm on the march, in the fight, and on the field where the victory had been won. Enshrined in the hearts of all these are enduring images and precious memories of their commander and friend. Who can collect and unite into one worthy picture the bold outlines, the many lights and shades, that make up the life and character of this great leader?

2. Who can condense into a single hour the record of a life which forms so large a chapter of the nation's history, and whose fame fills a hemisphere? Not one line can be omitted, not one false stroke made, no imperfect sketching done, which his soldiers will not instantly detect and deplore. We see him in memory at this moment, as we have often seen him in life, erect and strong, like a tower of solid masonry; his

broad, square shoulders, and massive head; his abun dant hair and full beard, of light brown sprinkled with silver; his broad forehead, full face, and features that would have appeared colossal 2 but for their perfect harmony of proportion; his clear complexion, with just enough of color to mark his robust health and well-regulated life; his face lighted up by an eye that was cold gray to the enemies of his country, but of a warm deep-blue to her friends.

3. His attitude, form, and features, all attested the inflexible 3 firmness and the invincible strength of his character. Yet his smile of welcome set every fea ture aglow with a kindness that won the manliest affection of all. While thus in memory we can recall his form and features, even more vividly do we treasure the remembrance of his qualities of mind and heart. His body was the fitting type of his intellect and his character. We have seen that intellect and that character tried again and again in the fiery furnace of war, and by other tests not less searching.

4. The career of George Henry Thomas was not only great and complete, but it was in an eminent degree the work of his own hand. His whole life was a remarkable illustration of the virtue and power of hard work; and in the last and best analysis of character the power successfully to accomplish hard work is but another name for talent. One of his instructors at West Point has said of him in his student life, "He never allowed anything to escape the most thorough examination, and left nothing behind him that he did not comprehend."

5. He knew full well that the elements and forces which bring victory are not created on the battle

field, but must be patiently elaborated in the quiet of the camp by the perfect organization of his army. His instructions to a captain of artillery, "Keep everything in order, for the fate of a battle may turn on a buckle or a linchpin," exhibits his theory of success. So well did he understand the condition of his army, that, when the hour of trial came, he knew how great a pressure it could withstand, and how hard a blow it could strike.

6. His character was as grand and simple as a colossal pillar of chiselled granite. Every step of his career as a soldier was marked by the most loyal and unhesitating obedience to law. That obedience which he rendered promptly to those above him he rigidly required of those under his command. His influence over his troops grew steadily and constantly. He won his ascendency 5 over them neither by artifice nor by any single act of special daring. He gradually filled them with his own spirit, until their confidence in him knew no bounds. His power as a commander grew steadily and silently, not as a volcanic land is lifted from the sea by a sudden and violent upheaval, but rather like a coral island, where each increment is a growth, an act of life and work.

7. In subduing our great rebellion, the republic called to its aid men who represented many forms of excellence and of power. Few possessed more force than General Thomas, more genius for planning and executing bold and daring enterprises, and no one was so complete an embodiment of strength, that strength which resists, maintains, and endures. His was the power, not of the cataract which leaps with foaming fury down the chasm, but it was rather that of the

river, broad and deep, and whose current is steady and silent, but irresistible.

8. It was most natural that such a man should be ever placed in the centre of each movement. To advance steadily, to stay, to occupy, and to hold, were, from the first to the last, the mission of the army of the Cumberland. It is a significant fact, that from Bowling Green to Atlanta, whether in command of a division, a corps, or an army, the position of General Thomas on the march, and his post in battle, were ever the centre. Whenever his command occupied the centre, that centre never was and never could be broken. At Stone River, he was the immovable pivot around which swung our repulsed left wing and our routed right. As the eye of General Rosecrans, our daring and brilliant commander, swept over that terrible field, it always rested on General Thomas, as the centre of his hopes. For five whole days did his command stand, fighting in their bloody tracks, until the enemy retreated, but not till after more than twenty per cent. of our soldiers had been killed or wounded.

9. But it was reserved for the last day at Chickamauga to exhibit, in one supreme example, his vast resources and his prodigious strength. After a day of terrible fighting, followed by a night of the most anxious preparations, General Rosecrans had so estab fished his lines as to hold the road to Chattanooga. That road was to be the prize of that day's battle. If our army failed to hold it, our campaign would be a failure, and inevitable destruction awaited the army itself. Thomas was in command of the left and cen tre. His line covered the Chattanooga road.

10. From early morning till afternoon he withstood the steady and repeated attacks of the enemy, who constantly reënforced their assaults upon our left. At noon the whole right wing was broken, and driven in hopeless confusion from the field. Even the commander of our army was himself swept away in that tide of retreat. The forces of General Longstreet, that had broken our right, desisting from the pursuit, formed in heavy columns, and assaulted the right flank of General Thomas with unexampled fury. Aware of the approaching danger, he threw back his exposed flank towards the base of the mountain, and unflinchingly met the new peril.

11. So long as men shail read the history of battles, so long will they not cease to read with admiration. the heroic deeds of General Thomas during that afternoon. With only twenty-five thousand men, formed in a compact semicircle, of which he himself was the omnipresent centre and soul, for more than five terrible hours did he successfully resist and beat back the repeated assaults of an army of eighty thousand men flushed with victory, and confidently bent upon his annihilation. As the day closed, his ammunition began to fail; one by one his division commanders reported but ten rounds, five rounds, or two rounds left. His calm and quiet answer was, "Save your fire for close quarters, and when the last shot is fired, use the bayonet."

12. Along a portion of his line the last assault of the enemy was repulsed with the bayonet; and when night closed over the combatants, the last sounds of that terrible battle were the triumphant boomings of General Thomas's shells bursting among the dis

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