17. Most Virginia military officers followed Lee into the Confederate Army
At the time of Fort Sumter, the US Army had eight full Colonels from Virginia in its ranks, including Lee. Of these men, seven elected to honor their oaths and serve in the Army of the United States. Only Lee chose otherwise. All of the eight were graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Other former West Pointers followed Lee’s example, including Thomas J. Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, James Longstreet, and George Pickett. Yet 40% of all commissioned officers from Virginia chose to serve in the Union Army, rather than violate their oaths. Among them was a man who emerged during the war as one of the Union’s best fighting generals. George Henry Thomas graduated from West Point in 1840, having been a classmate of William Tecumseh Sherman. When Virginia seceded Thomas, whose antebellum military career had been successful, opted to remain with the Union.
His family in Southern Virginia disowned him as a result of his decision. Thomas had been raised on a plantation. His family kept enslaved people as both field hands and personal servants. At the age of 13 Thomas, his mother, and his three sisters hid in the woods nearby as the Nat Turner Rebellion threatened their home and lives. When his family learned of his decision to fight for the Union, they destroyed all his correspondence and refused to allow his name to be spoken in their presence. During the war, Thomas attempted to send money to his financially beleaguered family. It was angrily rejected by his sisters. George Henry Thomas served throughout the war, commanding Union troops, and is the only Union general to command in battle without being defeated. Nonetheless, throughout the war, Thomas was viewed with suspicion due to his Virginia birth, including by Abraham Lincoln.