Yet there is a dignity in the human spirit which can become most clearly visible in the moment of defeat and disaster.

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.

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.

Early youth is a baffling time

The 1860 election became a referendum on the southern way of life.

Men see things late, and it may be that at times an evil fate drives them on.

Like most Rebel soldiers, Sam Watkins owned no slaves.