Thomas deserves to be in the pantheon of Union civil war generals. He never lost a battle he was in command of. One could say that his battles against Hood late in the war were the most decisive defeats of that war.
Grant really did not like Thomas:
"Finally, Grant and Thomas never got along. It was important for Grant to be comfortable with people, and Thomas made him uneasy. Thomas exhibited a vaguely aristocratic manner that got under Grant's skin, and sometimes Thomas ignored his chief's orders entirely. After a lifetime of service Thomas had developed his own schedule. Once he decided what was the right action to take and when was the appropriate time to take it, no one—not Grant, not Sherman, not Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, not President Lincoln himself—could make Thomas alter his agenda. Grant never admitted to any personal animosity toward Thomas, but when it came time for dividing credit up among his generals, he was particularly stingy with the Virginian.""
Missionary Ridge is interesting. Historians disagree if the attack up the hill was ordered, or if it was a spontaneous move by the soldiers in the Army of the Cumberland, after they had taken the rifle pits. I believe the later, but it will depend on your historian. I believe the men of the Army of the Cumberland felt they had something to prove after their lone defeat.
"Grant's plan went off the rails almost at once. On November 23 Thomas occupied Orchard Knob, high ground before Missionary Ridge, and, the day after, Hooker's men handily drove the Confederate defenders from Lookout Mountain. But the main battle had to be postponed for a day so Sherman could get his men in place to assault the Confederate position at Tunnel Hill. Sherman moved at sunrise but, even outnumbering his opponents almost six to one, he could make no headway. By three in the afternoon Sherman was still bogged down on the left, and Hooker, who had lost five hours repairing a bridge, was nowhere to be seen on the right.
From his command post at Orchard Knob, Grant could see the battle was getting away from him. "We must do something for Sherman," he said. Hoping a demonstration at the center would make Bragg draw troops away from Tunnel Hill, he ordered Thomas to advance on the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge. The first part was easy. The Rebel riflemen, reasonably enough, retreated in the face of an approaching army. Once the Cumberland men got the pits, however, they were on their own. They had no fire support on either side. They had no orders to advance and none to retreat. Staying put was a death warrant for the troops; they were being torn apart by shortrange artillery and musket fire from the summit. And so eighteen thousand men of the Army of the Cumberland did what only trained professional soldiers can do. They advanced toward the firing.
An astonished Grant watched the men scramble up the slope "like a swarm of bees." Sharply he asked Thomas who had ordered the charge. Thomas said he didn't know, but Gordon Granger, commander of the IV Corps, allowed that "when those fellows get started all hell can't stop them."
Whether an accident or a miracle—and it was called both—the charge was a blow the Army of Tennessee could not survive. Bragg lost control of his men as they poured off the field in panic. By the time Hooker played his part in Grant's plan, there was no interdicting the Southern retreat. The Union army didn't own horses that fast."
Thomas a general who does not get his just dues and The Army of the Cumberland, who also have not gotten their just dues.
The quotes are from:
Subject: The Rock Of Chickamauga | AMERICAN HERITAGE
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