George Henry Thomas did not like to call attention to himself, but he attracted a long list of nicknames -- "Old Tom," "Slow Trot," "Pap," and the "Sledge of Nashville." He is best remembered as the "Rock of Chickamauga" for the impassive courage that saved a beaten army from complete disaster, and most historians rank him among the Union's four greatest generals.

Thomas was born in Virginia on July 31, 1816. He graduated twelfth in his class at the U.S. Military Academy in 1840, and served with the 3rd U.S. Artillery against the Seminoles in Florida. After earning two brevets for gallantry in the Mexican War, Thomas returned to West Point in 1851 to teach cavalry and artillery tactics. In 1855, he was appointed a major in the elite 2nd U.S. Cavalry and later took an arrow in the face while battling Comanches in Texas.

When Virginia joined the Confederacy in 1861, Thomas turned his back on his native state and remained loyal to the Union. Elevated to brigadier general, he won one of the North's first major victories at Mill Spring, Kentucky, in January 1862. This success opened eastern Tennessee to Union penetration. Thomas was promoted to major general on April 25, 1862, and distinguished himself as a division commander at Corinth, Perryville, and Stones River.

Thomas assumed command of the XIV Corps in the Army of the Cumberland under Major General William S. Rosecrans in early 1863. When charging Confederates pierced the Union line at Chickamauga on September 20, 1863, Rosecrans and two-thirds of his troops fled back toward Chattanooga. Thomas kept his head, rallied the Union left wing, and conducted a stubborn, six-hour defense of Snodgrass Hill against an enemy outnumbering him two-to-one. That valiant stand prevented the Rebels from fully exploiting their victory.

Thomas replaced Rosecrans as the head of the Army of the Cumberland and watched his men redeem themselves at Missionary Ridge. After helping to capture Atlanta in September 1864, Thomas returned north to counter General John Bell Hood's invasion of Tennessee. At Nashville on December 15-16, 1864, Thomas demonstrated his mastery of combined-arms operations by virtually annihilating Hood's army.

Following the war, Thomas commanded the Department of Tennessee and then the Division of the Pacific. He died of a stroke at his desk on March 28, 1870, a dutiful soldier to the last.

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