General Scott and General George H. Thomas were Virginians, but they acted in defiance of the State-Rights doctrines of the South. In April, 1861, General Scott gave me an account of the efforts that had been made to induce him to follow the fortunes of Virginia, and he spoke with a voice of emotion of his veneration for the flag, and of his attachment to the Union. GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS Of the soldiers of the Northern army in the war of the Rebellion, General George H. Thomas takes rank next after the first three--Grant, Sherman and Sheridan. When Grant became President and Sherman was general of the army the President was unwilling to appear to neglect either Sheridan or Thomas. With high appreciation of Thomas as a soldier, the President gave higher rank to Sheridan. He said to me that he placed Sheridan above every other officer of the war. He gave Sheridan credit for two supreme qualities--great care in his plans and great vigor in execution. Yet, although the President acted upon a sound basis of opinion, the choice left a painful impression upon his memory. General Thomas and General Lee were alike in personal appearance, and they resembled each other in their mental characteristics. In one important particular they differed--General Thomas had no respect for State-Rights doctrines. He was a native of Virginia, but there was no indication in his testimony, nor were there rumors, that he had ever hesitated in his course when the rebellion opened. General Thomas was examined by the Committee on Reconstruction January 29, and February 2, 1866. He was then in command of the Military Division of the Tennessee which included the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. It was the main object of the committee to obtain information as to the public sentiment touching the treatment of the negroes and the re-establishment of civil government in the States that had been in rebellion. The Union sentiment was stronger in Tennessee than in any other State of the Confederacy. The inhabitants of the mountainous districts of eastern and middle Tennessee had been loyal from the opening of the contest in 1860 and 1860. Yet in 1866 General Thomas advised the committee that it would "not be safe to remove the national troops from Tennessee, or to withdraw martial law; or to restore the writ of habeas corpus to its full extent." At that time the peace of eastern Tennessee was disturbed by family feuds and personal quarrels, the outcome of political differences. In west Tennessee and in portions of middle Tennessee there was a deep seated hostility to Union men, and especially to Southern men who had served in the Union army. General Thomas said of them: "They are more unfriendly to Union men natives of the State of Tennessee or of the South, who have been in the Union army, than they are to men of Northern birth."