George Henry Thomas, a Virginian from a prominent slave-holding family, commanded the Union army at the Battle of Mill Springs. When the Civil War began, he chose to remain loyal to the Union despite doubts about his loyalty, including from President Abraham Lincoln, and later said that duty to the government of the United States was uppermost in his mind; his sisters never spoke to him again. A West Point graduate of 1840, Thomas had served in the U.S. Army until his death in 1870. Brigadier General George Thomas and his Union army reached Mill Springs after a sixty-five mile, sixteen-day march through rains that turned the roads to mud, arriving on January 17. At dawn on January 19, the battle began, and when Colonel Mahlon Manson brought news to Thomas, Thomas told him, "Go back to your troops and fight!" From a position not more than twenty paces behind the 2nd Minnesota Infantry's line, Thomas directed the fighting. After a morning of hard combat, his small, largely untried army won the Union's first major victory and lifted the morale of a despairing nation. After the battle he was promoted to major general, received command of the Army of the Cumberland in 1863, led Union forces at every major battle in the Western Theater, and in 1865 became one of thirteen officers to receive the thanks of Congress.