Front Page News
October 5, 2011
Decker To Speak About Gen. Thomas, Civil
War, Oct. 11
The Gilmanton Community Church is proud to host a
presentation by David Decker, a local authority on the Civil War,
1861-1865, on Tuesday, October 11th at 12 noon in the Gilmanton
Corners Church immediately following the Senior Luncheon. The menu
will be Hawaiian Chicken, rice, green beans, carrots, rolls,
beverages, and delicious desserts.
Decker will deliver a presentation on the life and
career of General George Thomas, with special emphasis on his
unbroken string of victories throughout the civil war.
Thomas is well known as the best commander on
defense in the war. He twice saved the union army from destruction
at Stone’s River and at Chickamauga. After this second battle, the
newspapers dubbed him "the Rock of Chickamauga," and President
Lincoln called his effort the most heroic act in the history of the
world.
Thomas was equally effective on offense, as was
shown in the Tullahoma Campaign and then in the Atlanta Campaign.
His crowning achievement occurred at the battle of Nashville, where
he completely destroyed John Bell Hood’s army, originally 57,000 men
but reduced to 3,000 men at Tupelo, Mississippi, having been chased
there by Thomas for 250 miles over three weeks. The result of this
battle was the end of the war in the west in December, 1864, four
months before Lee surrendered to Grant and five months before
Johnston surrendered to Sherman. Now one third of the confederate
states were at peace.
At the conclusion of the war and five years later at
his death, at least ten of his closest colleagues, fellow generals,
proclaimed Thomas to be the best general of the war, or of the 19th
century, or since George Washington. Thomas was the only man who
never lost a battle during the entire civil war.
Dave Decker’s Biography
Dave Decker was born in 1937 in Chicago, Illinois.
He lived in Methuen, Massachusetts and Salem, New Hampshire, before
moving to Laconia and Gilford, New Hampshire, in 1963 and has
continued to live there ever since. He graduated from the University
of New Hampshire and majored in government and then graduated from
Boston College law school.
He practiced law in New Hampshire for 28 years,
retired, and then worked as a paralegal for the next 20 years—much
easier on the heart and stomach.
Dave is married to his wife, Susan, has three adult
children, six grandchildren, and twelve step-grandchildren. His only
other resident in the house is the dog.
His interest in the Civil War began in high school
and has continued uninterrupted ever since then. A member of the
Civil War Round Table of New Hampshire since 1997, he has delivered
presentations on the following topics: the Lincoln-Douglass debates
of 1858, the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, women soldiers
in the Civil War, and General George Henry Thomas.
He has presented to civil war round tables and
historical societies in Epping, Somersworth, Keene, Milton Mills,
and Laconia, New Hampshire, and Dedham and Salisbury, Massachusetts.
Dave’s strong interest in General Thomas has been caused by the fact
that Thomas is virtually unknown and wrongfully so, and in Dave’s
small way, he’s trying to make amends. He’s sure to tell you that
General Thomas is a great hero of the Civil War.
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