128 THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



General Thomas' command did the heavy work in the 

 advance upon Atlanta where he lost thirty-two per cent 

 of his sixty thousand men. Then he turned back to Nash- 

 ville, Tenn., being closely followed by Hood, and soon af- 

 ter arriving in that city, where he was reinforced by fifteen 

 thousand of Grant's men, he attacked Hood's army and in 

 a short engagement so demolished the enemy that it did 

 no further effective service as an army. For this he was 

 promoted to the rank of major general by the secretary 

 of war, and here ended his military career in the field, 

 though he planned important campaigns in Georgia and 

 Alabama. He was a great favorite with the lecturer who 

 had opportunities of knowing his character, having at one 

 time been on his staff. 



General Thomas was mentioned in connection with the 

 Presidency in 1868 but promptly declined to have his name 

 used for such a purpose. 



Professor F. W. Putnam of Cambridge, delivered a lec- 

 ture on " Pre-Columbian America," or the race of men 

 which existed in America before the coming of Columbus. 

 The lecturer said that there were people here long before 

 the discovery of Columbus, and it had long been a ques- 

 tion who they were, and whence they came. They, or one 

 stock of them, probably were the descendants of men who, 

 ages before, came from very nearly the same place from 

 which the great discoverer started and so when he sent 

 some of those whom he called Indians, but really the Ca- 

 ribs, back to his own home, he was simply sending them 

 almost to the starting point of their race. Mr. Putnam 

 alluded to the glacial period and the immense gravel de- 

 posits following it, and in those gravel banks were found 

 implements and traces of a human race, showing that man 

 existed thousands and tens of thousands of years ago, here 

 in America. He differed from the generally accepted the- 



