John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

The first reply I received was from Dana. It was marked private, and, of course, has never been published. It was written from the War Department, January 4, 1865, and runs as follows:

I was absent in New York all last week, and found your most welcome letter on my table on Monday morning, the 2d instant, when I returned.

You are aware long ere this that General Thomas has been appointed to the vacant grade of major-general in the U. S. A. This was done on the recommendation of General Grant, or rather with his hearty concurrence, for the proposal came first from Mr. Stanton. I hope that it will obliterate all unpleasant feeling in the general's mind. In my judgment, while there are more brilliant and more fertile minds than his, a character more pure and noble and sure than his does not exist. There is no man in whom, in the long run, confidence can more safely be placed, nor one who would fill the highest station with superior dignity and wisdom.

The difficulty in General T[homas]'s case grew out of the fact that during the Atlanta campaign he was always a little too slow for the rapid and impatient spirit of Sherman. Then, after Hood had got to Nashville, he was long in getting ready to fight, and it was not surprising that both General Grant and the War Department should feel anxious at the delay. A sudden march to the north across the Cumberland might, as it seemed, place Hood's army in the centre of Kentucky, causing Thomas to follow him through a country rich in reinforcements and in supplies. General Grant desired him to be attacked at once, but General Thomas kept putting it off for reasons which no doubt were good, but which were too much like those so often urged by Buell and McClellan to be satisfactory. The truth is that Grant finally started for Nashville himself, but reached here with the news of the first day's successful battle. That, of course, stopped him