In the winter of 1864, Union Major General George H. Thomas accomplished what General Ulysses S. Grant had failed to do over six months: he destroyed a Confederate army. The victory came in mid-December at the Battle of Nashville, where Thomas decisively crushed General John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee.
Despite the success, Grant sent frantic orders from Petersburg demanding immediate pursuit. Thomas complied, spending 12 days chasing Hood’s shattered forces more than 100 miles back into northern Alabama. On Christmas Day, Thomas learned he had been promoted to major general in the regular army. The honor, however, did little to lift his spirits.
Beaten down by months of harsh criticism from Grant and Army Chief of Staff Henry Halleck, he reportedly tossed the promotion message to the floor and said, “I earned that a year ago at Chattanooga. ”
Two weeks later, Grant pressed for a winter campaign. Thomas agreed but insisted on time to refit his command. Within days of that message, Grant relieved him of command.
The dismissal marked a bitter end to a campaign that had delivered one of the Union’s most complete victories of the war, but it also capped a long-running feud between Thomas and his superiors that had simmered since the fall of 1863.