Page 164 "...Owen's Civil War General George Thomas at the battle of Chickamauga..."

Clockwise from top left: Painting of the battle; General George Thomas;
Thomas Nast rendering of "Lt. Van Pelt Defending His Battery";
Photograph of the Chickamauga countryside at time of battle.

Page 164 of the book: "...There I was, standing up to the seminal representative of my faith, not cowering but vastly lost within my untried courage. What was I doing arguing with a priest? I thought of Owen's Civil War General George Thomas at the battle of Chickamauga, Tennessee. Outnumbered 2 to 1 by the Confederates, he held his ground against Longstreet's crushing advances, placed like Shelby Foote said "between an anvil and a sledge." He was The Rock of Chickamauga. It was there, in front of Revenant, that I held my own ground, although I resembled nothing like a rock, and nearly folded between this spiritual French blacksmith and the door."