The Phraseology of General Thomas’s Report
It may be worthy of note that none of the officers whose reports reveal their ignorance of that plan belonged to the Army of the Cumberland, with which General Thomas had so long been identified.
[( 1) War Records, Vol. XVL, part ii, p. 184.]
CHAPTER XV General Thomas’s Indorsement on the Report of the Battle of Franklin —Courtesies to Him in Washington—Peculiarities of the Official Records in Regard to Franklin and Nashville—Documents Which Have Disappeared from the Records—Inconsistencies in General Thomas’s Report—False Representations Made to Him—Their Falsity Confirmed by General Grant.
After I parted from General Thomas in Tennessee, having at our last meeting there congratulated him on his well-deserved promotion to the highest permanent grade, that of major-general in the regular army, I had no further official intercourse with him, and, so far as I can recollect, did not see him until after June 1, 1868, when I entered the War Department. During the intervening time—more than three years—my attention had been absorbed by important duties, including a mission to France in defense of the then violated “Monroe doctrine,” and command in Virginia during a part of the period of “reconstruction.” I had not even seen the official reports of the campaign in Tennessee, they having been made public while I was in Europe.