Finding Aid for the General George Thomas Letters, 1869
MS-2246University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN
Encoded by: Elizabeth Dunham, June 2, 2006.
Summary Information
General George Thomas Letters
Date/Date Range : 1869
0.1 linear feet
Abstract: The General George Thomas Letters, 1869, outline the debate over a resolution proposing the removal of Thomas's portrait from the state capitol.
MS-2246
University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN
Access and Use
This collection was purchased by Special Collections in February 2002.
Collection is open for research.
The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.
[Identification of Item], General George Thomas Letters, MS-2246. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.
Arrangement
Collection consists of a single folder.
Biography / History
General George Thomas earned the nickname "The Rock of Chickamauga" after his troops stubbornly held their position on Snodgrass Hill after most of the army had fled from the field. Thomas was then given command of the Army of the Cumberland. After participating in the campaign to capture Atlanta, Thomas's troops took up position in Nashville, where they destroyed General John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee. Thomas remained in command in Tennessee until 1867, when he was assigned to the Pacific coast. He held this post until his death in 1870.
In 1869, Tennessee politics took an interesting turn when Reconstruction era Governor Parson Brownlow stepped down from office in February to accept a U.S. Senate seat. He was replaced for the duration of his term by Senate Speaker Dewitt C. Senter, a conservative East Tennessee Unionist. Hoping to win election in his own right and facing opposition from within his own party, Senter reached out for support from the state's Democrats by effectively setting aside the franchise laws that had been put in place during Reconstruction, allowing thousands of Confederate sympathizers to vote. Senter won the election, but conservative Democrats gained control of the legislature.
Collection Scope and Content Note
The General George Thomas Letters, 1869, contain three letters which provide insight into a resolution proposing the removal of portraits of Thomas as well as former Governor William "Parson" Brownlow from the state capitol. In the first letter, dated December 8, 1869, State Speaker of the House W.O.N. Perkins describes the incidents which brought about the proposal and argues that the feeling of the members of the house is "to let bygones be bygones and to labor in the future for the restoration of Peace." The other two letters, both from G.P. Thurston in Nashville, reassure Thomas that his portrait will not be removed because his friends would stop the matter with "prompt intervention."
Subject Terms
- Thomas, George Henry, 1816-1870.
- Brownlow, William Gannaway, 1805-1877.
- Tennessee -- Politics and government -- 1865-1950.
Contents List
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Letter from W.O.N. Perkins, Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, in Nashville to General George Thomas, 1869 December 8 Scope Note: Perkins talks of a resolution offered in the House to sell the portraits of Thomas and Governor William Brownlow. He notes that "the feeling of this Legislature and of a large majority of the people of this State is to let bygones be bygones and to labor in the future for the restoration of Peace, Kind feeling and Confidence and but for a few bad men who are ever ready to pervert and misrepresent, that feeling would soon permeate the whole Country."
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Letter from G.P. Thurston in Nashville to General George Thomas, 1869 December 25 Scope Note: Thurston encloses an article from a Nashville paper on the proposal to remove Thomas's portrait from the state capitol. He states that "there is a general overturning of old landmarks here however & a tendency to extreme & partisan measures & it is possible that in time they do so some mean thing in relation to your picture." He also notes, however, that these matters would "require the prompt intervention of your friends & which I assure you would receive it."
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Letter from G.P. Thurston in Nashville to General George Thomas, 1869 December 31 Scope Note: Thurston speaks of W.O.N. Perkins, saying that "he is said to have been a Union man before the war but like most of his neighbors about Franklin Tenn, has not had much unionism to boast of since that time." He also assures Thomas that he does not think that the legislature will vote to remove his portrait.
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