How Did George Thomas Influence On Civil War

771 Words4 Pages

Sarah Turner
May 11, 2015
Mrs. Ludwig
Civil War Research Paper

Born in the South, Fought for the North

Imagine leaving everything. Everything you were used to. Everything that you grew up in. Everything your parents believed in. To fight for the other side.
George H. Thomas was born on July 31, 1816 on a Virginia plantation just north of the North Carolina border. His family included his parents Elizabeth and John Thomas and his six siblings. Thomas' family owned 685 acres and 24 slaves. As a boy he gave his slaves on his family's farm Bible, farm, and reading lessons which was violating a Virginia law. His views were very different from his parents even at a young age.
When George was 13 years old his father died from a terrible accident leaving his family to have many financial issues. Clearly, A widow trying to raise six kids on her own was very difficult. During this time, the slave rebellion of 1831 was going on where rebel slaves led by Nat Turner were killing anywhere from 55 to 65 people. This caused his family to flee to hide in the woods for safety. Viewing all of the violence that the slaves were creating, George's views on slavery changed entirely. In his opinion, the slaves did have a good reason to be stirring up all of the violence. …show more content…

Mason in 1836. George Thomas graduated in 1840, 12th in his class out of 42.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, George H. Thomas struggled with his decision between faithfulness to his state or faithfulness to his country. But he chose to stay with the United States, so the union he fought for. In result to his choice, his family turned his picture against the wall, destroyed his letters, and never spoke to him