grant, general william tecumseh sherman, joseph hooker, philip sheridan, george gordon meade, and other notables overrate were among the vast concourse of mourners who gathered to pay their respects. his passing was considered a national calamity. today, textbooks often omit him or giving up just a few lines. yet no man was more responsible for thomas for the union victory in the war. how may we summarize his life? born into a slaveholding family in virginia, not far from the site of the climactic battle of the revolutionary war at yorktown, he chafed early on that the system of slavery that sustain his family's wealth. as a boy, he told the families slays how to read and write it is said against his parents wishes, and if not quite an abolitionist as a young man, he was one in the making, as revealed by his conduct in subsequent years. at the age of 19, he went off to west point, did well, groomed with william tecumseh sherman, whom he protected from upper-class boys. seem to never forget anything he learned. pot with conspicuous distinction in the seminal and mexican wars. return to w