See also John W. De Peyster's “Sketch of G. H. Thomas” (1870) and James A. Garfield's “Oration before the Society of the Army of the Cumberland,” 25 Nov., 1870 (Cincinnati, 1871).
THOMAS, Henry Goddard, soldier, b. in Portland, Me., 5 April, 1837. He was graduated at Amherst in 1858, studied law, and was admitted to
the bar. He enlisted as a private in the 5th Maine volunteers in April, 1861, and was captain in that regiment from June till August, when he was given
that rank in the 11th regular infantry. He was present at the first battle of Bull Run and the action at Snicker's Gap, Va., was appointed colonel
of the 2d U. S. colored regiment in February, 1863, and engaged in the actions of Bristol Station, Rappahannock Station, and Mine Run, Va. He then
organized the 19th U. S. colored regiment, and became its colonel in December, 1863. In February, 1864, he was in command at Camp Birney, Md.,
and he led a brigade in the 9th corps, Army of the Potomac, from May, 1864, till November, being engaged at the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Petersburg, and Hatcher's Run. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, 30 Nov., 1864, transferred to the Army of the James, led a brigade and division in the 25th corps of that army, and temporarily commanded the corps. During the war he received the brevets of major, 12 May, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Spottsylvania ; lieutenant-colonel, 30 July, 1864, for services at Petersburg ; and colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865, for services during the
war. He was honorably mustered out of the volunteer service in 1866, but remained in the United States army, and is now paymaster, with the
rank of major. Gen. Thomas was the first regular officer to accept a colonelcy of colored troops. — His brother, William Widgery, diplomatist, b. in Portland, Me., 26 Aug., 1839, was graduated at
Bowdoin in 1860. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, appointed in 1862 U. S. vice-consul at Galatz, Moldavia, and the same year U. S. consul
at Gothenburg, Sweden, where he remained in charge till 1865. He was one of the board of commissioners for the settlement of the public lands of
Maine in 1869, and in 1870, as commissioner of emigration for Maine, went to Sweden to recruit a colony. On his return he founded New Sweden in
the forests of northern Maine, which is now one of the most flourishing agricultural settlements of New England. He was a member of the house of
representatives of the Maine legislature in 1873-'5, and its speaker in 1874-'5, became a member of the state senate in 1879, and was U. S. minister to
Sweden and Norway in 1883-'5. On the occasion of his presentation he addressed the king in a speech in the Swedish language. He has published
"The Last Athenian," translated from the Swedish of Victor Rydborg (Philadelphia, 1869), and ha«
now almost completed " Sweden and the Swedes,"
which is to be issued simultaneously in New York
and Stockholm, Sweden.
THOMAS, Isaac, scout, b. in Virginia about 1735; d. in Sevierville, Tenn., in 1819. He early engaged in trading with the Indians, and about 1755 located among the Cherokees, in the vicinity of Fort Loudon. He was a man of immense strength and courage, and these qualities secured him great respect among the Indians. It is related that he once interfered in a feud between two Cherokee braves who had drawn their tomahawks to hew each other in pieces. He wrenched the weapons from their hands, when both set upon him at once, and he cooled their heated valor by lifting one after the other into the air and tossing them into Tellico river. One of these braves subsequently saved his life at the Fort Loudon massacre, of which it is said that he and two others were the sole survivors. When peace returned he again settled among the Cherokees, having his home at their capital, Echota, where, in a logcabin, he kept the trader's usual stock of powder and lead, guns, traps, and other articles of value to the Indians. He was in high favor with Nancy Ward, the Cherokee prophetess, who was very friendly to the white settlers. She informed him early in 1776 of the hostile designs of the Indians, and on the 30th of May said to him: "Send my white brothers word to be ready, for the bolt will fall very soon, and at midnight." He sent off at once a trusty messenger to John Sevier and James Robertson at Watauga, but remained behind till the actual outbreak of hostilities. At midnight on 7 July, 1776, Nancy Ward came again to his cabin to urge his immediate departure for the settlements. At the imminent risk of his life he made the journey, and a few days later was with the little garrison of forty that . repelled the attack of Oconostota on the fort at Watauga. It is questionable if Sevier could have resisted the overpowering force that was brought against him if he had not received timely warning through Isaac Thomas. Soon afterward he piloted the expedition that laid waste the Indian country, and subsequently, for twenty years, he acted as guide to Gen. Sevier in nearly all of his many campaigns against the Creeks and Cherokees. Soon after the Revolution he relinquished trade with the Indians, and settled upon an extensive farm in Sevier county. He called the settlement which grew up about his station Sevierville, in honor of his general, and the place is now one of the most beautiful localities in the state of Tennessee.
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THOMAS, Isaiah, printer, b. in Boston, Mass., 19 Jan., 1749; d. in Worcester, Mass., 4 April, 1831. At the age of six years he was apprenticed to Zachariah Fowles, a ballad-printer, and was employed setting type. After eleven years' apprenticeship he travelled from the West Indies to Nova Scotia, and, returning to Boston, entered in 1770 into partnership with his former master in the publication of the “Massachusetts Spy.” In three months this relationship was dissolved, and he continued the paper alone, choosing for his motto “Open to all parties, but influenced by none.” As he was a Whig, the policy of the paper gradually changed, and it became the organ of that party, publishing many spirited attacks on the British government. In 1771 Gov. Thomas Hutchinson ordered the attorney-general to prosecute Thomas; but the grand jury failed to find cause for indictment. As the Tories became more incensed against the independence of the “Spy,” a few days before the battle of Lexington, in which he participated, he packed his press and
