One of the most interesting features of Oakwood Cemetery is its numerous graves for Civil War veterans. None is more known that General George Thomas - the Rock of Chickamauga which for years has been under the good caretaking of the Col. George L. Willard Camp # 154, Department of New York, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Together with Oakwood Cemetery, the group has reconstructed the fence and finials of the original General Thomas grave site and raised the descriptive tablet of General Thomas off the ground.
On July 31st, 2021 — the anniversary of Thomas’s 1816 July 31st birthday — a rededication of the site will occur, hosted by Col. George L. Willard Camp # 154, Department of New York, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War camp and Oakwood Cemetery. There will be many other special guests ib attendance.
Reservations required. Call 518-328-0090.
Here are some of the highlights of General George Thomas.
* Future president James Garfield told General Rosecrans that Thomas was "standing like a rock." After the battle he became widely known by the nickname "The Rock of Chickamauga", representing his determination to hold a vital position against strong odds.
* General Thomas's concept of training, however, did not include much parade ground drill.
* He applied to the colored troops the same principal he had developed and refined for troops in general throughout his participation in the Civil War, namely send them out in small groups on "sorties" or scouting parties in order to gain combat experience and familiarity with the danger of combat, a danger which can be limited and controlled with proper preparation, training, and battlefield leadership, as Thomas was to demonstrate time and time again.
* The following excerpt from Thomas's report of 13 Sept. 1864 shows how he worked. “Note that colored units are fighting together with "white" units in a small-scale engagement. There is no grand-standing here, no useless sacrifice:
* Thomas also initiated the first national military cemetery of the war in Chattanooga. His respect for his soldiers was also manifested in his active interest in this project as well as in similar cemeteries afterward.
* When asked if the soldiers' remains should be interred according to their states of origin, he replied: "No, no, no. Mix them up. Mix them up. I am tired of states-rights" . In short, Thomas's entire behavior after the battle of Chattanooga demonstrated that he had completely accepted Lincoln's policy and ideas on emancipation, or more probably, shared them from the beginning, and he endeavored to carry out these policies after Lincoln's death, often in the face of opposition from the most disparate quarters.
* The command in the West entailed considerable travel and people were concerned over his health. “At 7 pm on 28 March 1870 Thomas died “of a stroke on duty at his headquarters in San Francisco.
* His body was transferred back east and buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, New York, attended by President Grant, Generals Sherman, Sheridan and Meade and thousands of soldiers and veterans.
* The pall bearers were Generals Meade, Schofield, Hooker, Rosecrans, Hazen, Granger, Newton and McKay. The escort was composed of two companies of Engineers, two of Artillery and four of Infantry, of the United States Army, under the command of General Wallen. The Ninth and Tenth brigades of the National Guard of the State of New York, and a number of other organizations, military and civil, took part in the parade, which was a mile in length
* Boynton wrote that Thomas
* "looked upon the lives of his soldiers as a sacred trust, not to be carelessly imperiled. Whenever he moved to battle, it was certain that everything had been done that prudence, deliberation, thought and cool judgment could do under surrounding circumstances to ensure success commensurate with the cost of the lives of men. And so it came to pass that when the war ended it could be truthfully written of Thomas alone that he never lost a movement or a battle."
* Once war was declared in 1861, New York State provided the most soldiers and raised the most money of any state in the union.