Samuel Russell Thomas

Samuel Russell Thomas (April 27, 1840 – January 11, 1903)[1] was an American capitalist and Union Army general during the U.S. Civil War.

Samuel Russell Thomas
Born(1840-04-27)April 27, 1840
South Point, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJanuary 11, 1903(1903-01-11) (aged 62)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Soldier, capitalist
Spouse
Ann Augusta Porter
​
(m. 1872)​
ChildrenEdward Russell Thomas
Harold Edgell Thomas
Eleanor Nancy Thomas

Early life

Thomas was born on April 27, 1840, in South Point in Lawrence County, Ohio.[2] He was a son of Captain James Thomas (d. 1842) and his wife, a daughter of Captain John Callihan, a War of 1812 soldier.[3] His parents were originally from Virginia and were among the early settlers, in 1807, of the region between the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers.[1]

Career

After limited schooling in Marietta, he began his career as a junior clerk with the Keystone Iron Company in Jackson, Ohio, where he learned the engineering of mining.[1]

U.S. Civil War

An ardent Republican upon the forming of the party,[3] Thomas enlisted during the U.S. Civil War as a Second Lieutenant in the 27th Ohio Infantry of the Union Army in July 1861. For three years, he served under Col. John W. Fuller in the "Ohio Brigade" and was successively promoted "for gallant and meritorious" to Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel before being brevetted a Brigadier general. Thomas mostly participated in the south and west under Grant and Sherman during the War, including at the Battles of Pittsburgh Landing, Chattanooga and Vicksburg.[1] He was known for leading the first black Union troops, the 63rd and 64th United States Colored Infantry, into battle.[4]

Thomas was in the rear with the reserve forces during General Sherman's March to the Sea.[5] For one year after the war during the Reconstruction era,[4] he was in charge of the Freedman's and Abandoned Land and Property Departments in Mississippi.[6] He was an Adjutant General on the staff of Oliver Otis Howard until January 1867 when he was honorably mustered out of the army.[1]

Later career

After the war, he moved to Zanesville, Ohio, and entered the industrial sector, first as a pig iron and railroad supplies manufacturer. In 1869, he moved into coal mining when the Hocking Valley coal mines opened, and eventually moved into railroads in 1878. He began constructing railroads in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. From 1878 until March 1882, he variously served as vice president and president of the Creek Valley Railroad, a director and general manager of the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (known as the Nickel Plate Road). Beginning in 1882, he served as the president of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway Company and was a director of the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway,[7] and the Marquette, Houghton and Ontonagon Railroad, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and the Richmond and Danville Railroad, the latter two later became the Southern Railway.[1][8]

Personal life

In September 1872, Thomas was married to Ann Augusta Porter (1847–1944),[9] a daughter of Carson Porter, a prominent citizen of Zanesville.[3] Together, they were the parents of the following children:[10]

He was a member of the New York Yacht Club, the Riding Club, the Southern Club, the Union League Club, the Country Club, the Ohio Club, the Lotos Club, the Lawyers' Club and the Jekyl Island Club.[1]

Thomas died of heart disease at his home, 17 West 57th Street in New York City, on January 11, 1903.[3][1] At his death, his estate was estimated to be $10,000,000 (equivalent to $325,703,704 today).[17] His executors (including George Macculloch Miller) were instructed to invest $100,000 (equivalent to $3,257,037 today) and pay the income to his son Harold because in his will, Thomas stated: "I make no further provision for my son Harold because his condition, mentally and physically, is such that he is incapable of managing his own affairs."[18] Upon his widow's death in 1944, she left her estate to son Dr. Harold E. Thomas, and not to her late son Edward's children Samuel and Lucetta, "because, in my opinion, each of them is adequately provide for financially".[9]

Legacy

Thomasville, Alabama is named after him.[19]

References
  1. "GEN. SAMUEL THOMAS DEAD; Passes Away at His Home in This City at Midnight. His Career in the Army, in the Coal Trade Region After the War, and as a Railroad Financier" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 January 1903. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  2. Hall, Henry (1895). America's Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York. New York Tribune. pp. 648-650. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  3. "SAMUEL THOMAS DEAD. -- General's Family at His Bedside at the End". New-York Tribune. January 12, 1903. p. 2. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  4. Hutto, Richard Jay (2005). Their Gilded Cage: The Jekyll Island Club Members. Indigo Custom Publishing. pp. 146–147. ISBN 9780977091225. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  5. Eicher, John; Eicher, David (2002). Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press. p. 528. ISBN 9780804780353. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  6. "MISSISSIPPI.; The Freedmen--Report of Col. Samuel Thomas--Large Crops Anticipated." (PDF). The New York Times. 25 February 1866. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  7. American Manual of Values (annual). J.L. McLean & Company. 1902. p. 328. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  8. Commission, Michigan Railroad (1902). Annual Report of the Michigan Railroad Commission. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Company, state printers. p. 208. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  9. "Lucetta's Problem with the Thomas Fortune". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. 19 Aug 1945. p. 51. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  10. Yale University Class of 1894 (1922). Quarter-century Record, Class of 1894 Yale College. class under the direction of the Class Secretaries Bureau. p. 409. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  11. "E. R. THOMAS, NOTED SPORTSMAN, DIES; Was an Owner of The Morning Telegraph and a Former Banker | HAD SPECTACULAR CAREER | Inherited a Fortune and Lost' Heavily in Panic -- Early Auto-Racing Enthusiast" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 July 1926. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  12. "THE MORNING TELEGRAPH SOLD. Secured from the Whitney Estate by E. R. Thomas" (PDF). The New York Times. 22 March 1904. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  13. "DR. HAROLD E. THOMAS SUED.; Chicago Lawyer Wants $250,000 for Services in Suit Against His Father's Estate" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 June 1903. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  14. "MRS. THOMAS GETS DIVORCE.; Chicago Court Grants Decree to the Wife of Gen. Samuel Thomas's Son on Ground of Desertion" (PDF). The New York Times. 18 July 1903. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  15. "MRS R. L. BEECKMAN DEAD IN VIRGINIA -- R I Governor's Wife Was Stricken Suddenly". The Boston Globe. December 21, 1920. p. 11. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  16. "ROBERT BEECKMAN, EX-GOVERNOR, DIES; Descendant Also of Livingstons Served 3 Terms, 1915-21, as Rhode Island Executive. WAS FRIEND OF HARDING Republican, 68, Was Mentioned for Vice President--Had Been in State Legislature" (PDF). The New York Times. 22 January 1935. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  17. "GEN. SAMUEL THOMAS'S WILL.; Income of Estate to be Paid to His Widow, Sons, and Daughter -- Esti- mated Value $10,000,000" (PDF). The New York Times. 29 January 1903. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  18. "NO THOMAS WILL CONTEST; Practical Agreement Said to Have Been Reached. Beneficiaries and Executors of the Will Have Been Conferring with Gen. Samuel Thomas's Son Harold" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 March 1903. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  19. "About Thomasville" (PDF). City of Thomasville. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
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