Oration On The Life And Character Of Gen George H Thomas PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1871 edition. Excerpt: ... The second was the great Western slope from the same mountain chain to the Ohio, the Tennessee., and Tombigbee rivers, and extending southward to the Gulf. The third was the Mississippi river itself, and the immediate territory along its banks. Peculiarities of topography and surroundings required, for each of these lines, different modes of supplying an army and of conducting campaigns. The army of the East, which operated on the first line, was in great part supplied from the sea; and many of its operations were carried on in conjunction with the navy. The army on the third, or Western line was supplied from the Mississippi river; and the gun-boat service formed a novel and important feature in its military operations. The Army of the Cumberland held the center line, which was in many respects the most difficult of all. There could be but little naval co-operation with its movements; and only for a short distance could it be supplied by river transportation. Its main supply was by a single line of railroad, running hundreds of miles among a hostile population, and requiring a heavy force for its protection. The great central pathway led into the heart of the rebellion. It crossed the only line of railway (the Memphis and Charleston) which united the Eastern and Western States of the Confederacy. Extraordinary obstacles lay in the pathway of an army moving southward over this central route. Besides the broad and deep rivers which cross it, the great mountain chain itself, bending sharply near the Georgia line, sweeps westward until it loses itself in the low sand-hills and plains of Alabama and Mississippi, thus presenting a most formidable barrier to an army invading the Gulf States. The great gateway of the mountain chain is at...