And There Is The Headlight,

Between 1861 And 1865, Americans Made War On Each Other And Killed Each Other In Great Numbers - If Only To Become The Kind Of Country That Could No Longer Conceive Of How That Was Possible.

The Civil War Was Fought In 10,000 Places, From Valverde, New Mexico, And Tullahoma, Tennessee, To St. Albans, Vermont, And Fernandina On The Florida Coast. More Than 3 Million Americans Fought In It, And Over 600,000 Men, 2 Percent Of The Population, Died In It.

Beneath Everything Else, North And West, There Ran A Profound, Unvoiced, Almost Subconscious Conviction That The [american] Nation Was Going To Go On Growing-in Size, In Power, In Everything A Man Could Think Of-and In That Belief There Was A Might And A Fury That Would Take Form Instantly At The Moment Of Shock.

What A General Could Do, Thomas Did; No More Dependable Soldier For A Moment Of Crisis Existed On The North American Continent, Or Ever Did Exist... Thomas Comes Down In History As The Rock Of Chickamauga, The Great Defensive Fighter, The Man Who Could Never Be Driven Away But Who Was Not Much On The Offensive. That May Be A Correct Appraisal, Yet It May Also Be Worth Making Note That Just Twice In All The War Was A Major Confederate Army Driven Away From A Prepared Position In Complete Rout - At Chattanooga And At Nashville. Each Time The Blow That Routed It Was Launched By Thomas.

Like Most Rebel Soldiers, Sam Watkins Owned No Slaves.