Former home of: General George H. Thomas (Civil War General) Location: 3108 P Street NW George Henry Thomas (July 31, 1816 – March 28, 1870), the "Rock of Chickamauga", was a career U.S. Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War, one of the principal commanders in the Western Theater. Thomas was born in Newsom's Depot, Southampton County, Virginia. In 1831, Thomas, his sisters, and his widowed mother were forced to flee from their home and hide in the nearby woods in the wake of Nat Turner's slave rebellion. Graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1840, he served as an artillery subaltern in the war against the Seminole Indians in Florida (1841), and in the Mexican War at the battles of Fort Brown, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, and Buena Vista, receiving three promotions for distinguished gallantry in action. From 1851 to 1854 he was an instructor at West Point. In 1855 he was appointed a major of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry (later redesignated the 5th U.S. Cavalry) by Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War. On August 26, 1860, Thomas was wounded by a Indian arrow passing through the flesh near his chin area and sticking into his chest at Clear Fork, Brazos River, Texas. At the outbreak of the Civil War, three of Thomas's regimental superiors—Albert Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, and William J. Hardee—resigned. Many Southern-born generals were torn between loyalty to their states and loyalty to their country. Thomas struggled with the decision but opted to remain with the United States. In response, his family turned his picture against the wall, destroyed his letters, and never spoke to him again. Nevertheless, Thomas stayed in the Union Army with some degree of suspicion surrounding him. On January 18, 1861, a few months before Fort Sumter, he had applied for a job as the commandant of cadets at Virginia Military Institute. Any real tendency to the secessionist cause, however, could be refuted when he turned down Virginia Governor John Letcher's offer to become chief of ordnance for the Virginia Provisional Army. Thomas was promoted in rapid succession to be lieutenant colonel (April 25, 1861) and colonel (May 3) in the Regular Army, and brigadier general of volunteers (August 17). In the First Manassas campaign, he commanded a brigade under Major General Robert Patterson in the Shenandoah Valley, but all of his subsequent assignments were in the Western Theater. In command of an independent force in eastern Kentucky, on January 18, 1862, he defeated Confederate Generals George B. Crittenden and Felix Zollicoffer at Mill Springs, gaining the first important Union victory in the war, breaking Confederate strength in eastern Kentucky, and lifting Union morale. On December 2, 1861, Brig. Gen. Thomas was assigned to command the 1st Division of Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio. He was present at the second day of the Battle of Shiloh (April 7, 1862), but arrived after the fighting had ceased. The victor at Shiloh, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, came under severe criticism for the bloody battle and his superior, Henry W. Halleck, reorganized his Department of the Mississippi to ease Grant out of direct field command. The three armies in the department were divided and recombined into three "wings". Thomas, promoted to major general effective April 25, 1862, was given command of the Right Wing, consisting of four divisions from Grant's former Army of the Tennessee and one from the Army of the Ohio. Thomas successfully led this putative army in the siege of Corinth. On June 10, Grant returned to command of the original Army of the Tennessee. Thomas resumed service under Don Carlos Buell. During Confederate General Braxton Bragg's invasion of Kentucky in the fall of 1862, the Union high command became nervous about Buell's cautious tendencies and offered command of the Army of the Ohio to Thomas, who refused. Thomas served as Buell's second-in-command at the Battle of Perryville; although tactically inconclusive, the battle halted Bragg's invasion of Kentucky as he voluntarily withdrew to Tennessee. Again frustrated with Buell's ineffective pursuit of Bragg, the Union replaced him with Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans. Fighting under Rosecrans in the newly renamed Army of the Cumberland, Thomas gave an impressive performance at the Battle of Stones River, holding the center of the retreating Union line and once again preventing a victory by Bragg. He was in charge of the most important part of the maneuvering from Decherd to Chattanooga during the Tullahoma Campaign (June 22 – July 3, 1863) and the crossing of the Tennessee River. At the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19, 1863, he once again held a desperate position against Bragg's onslaught while the Union line on his right collapsed rallying broken and scattered units together on Horseshoe Ridge to prevent a significant Union defeat from becoming a hopeless rout. Future president James Garfield, a field officer fo

Fred McFeely Rogers, more fondly known as Mr. Rogers of the children's show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, earned his bachelor's degree in music composition from Rollins in 1951 before moving on to his television and communications career. Rogers produced and hosted Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which began as a daily 15-minute show for the Canadian Broadcasting Company. He expanded the show to a full half hour for ABC in Pittsburgh, Penn. and then it aired nationally when PBS picked it up in the late ’60s. While at Rollins, Rogers was inspired by the marble inscription "Life is for Service" that can still be found in a breezeway located on campus; he even carried a picture of the plaque in his wallet. His children's show--which instilled the values of community and the importance of self-respect and worth--was a daily routine for children across several generations. Fred was a longtime friend of the College before his death in 2003, and his wife, Joanne Byrd ’50 (whom he met at Rollins), continues to be a benefactor of Rollins through her position as an honorary trustee and her involvement with the Child Development Center (her generosity made the new playground possible). In 1991, Rogers donated pieces of his signature “Mister Rogers” wardrobe—a sweater and sneakers—to his alma mater; they are housed in Rollins' Archives and placed on display at various times, such as the annual sweater drive conducted in Rogers' honor.