Thomas Thompson of Co. G

Private Thomas Thompson was enlisted at Urbana, Ohio on February 27, 1865 to serve for one year under the terms of the Federal Enrollment Act of 1863 and was mustered in the next day. Manpower quotas were issued to congressional districts, and these were filled by local enrollment boards by whatever means were necessary.

Thomas’ service was credited to Monroe Township, Miami County in the 4th Ohio Congressional District and he was due a $100 enlistment bounty. Born in Lincolnshire, England, he was 32 years old, a laborer by trade, and stood 5 feet 6 inches tall, and had a dark complexion, grey eyes, and dark hair.

He was initially sent to the 187th Ohio Infantry regiment for service at Camp Chase, Ohio. On March 23, 1865 at Camp Chase, he was assigned to Company G, 196th Ohio Infantry under the command of Captain Reuben C. Berger.

The 196th Ohio Infantry was organized at Camp Chase and mustered in on March 25, 1865. It departed for Winchester, Virginia the next day and was assigned to the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Provisional Division, Army of the Shenandoah. The regiment was stationed at Stephenson’s Depot near Winchester from April 7th until the end of July when it was transferred to Baltimore and Fort Delaware.

The Record of Events for Companies D, F, and I of the 196th Ohio Infantry indicate that they left Stephenson’s Depot on July 27, 1865 and traveled by rail through Harper’s Ferry to Baltimore. They then moved by boat to Fort Delaware arriving on July 28th and 29th.

Captain Berger’s Record of Events for the July & August 1865 muster period states that Company G left Stephenson’s Depot by train on July 27th and stopped at Fort Federal Hill in Baltimore. Two weeks later on August 12th, Company G departed Fort Federal Hill and was delivered by boat to Fort Delaware arriving the next day.

Private Thomas Thompson was present for duty during all of this, but suffered increasingly from a persistent stomach disorder. A report to the Commissioner of Pensions in 1884 states that he was briefly hospitalized at Winchester (July 14th to July 27th) suffering from diarrhea.

In support of Mrs. Thompson’s post-war widow’s pension application, Captain Berger described the disease as “gastritis and chronic diarrhea” and wrote: “I think the disease was contracted from exposure and poor diet on the march from Charles Town to Winchester, Virginia. There was a good deal of rain the boys were much exposed to the weather. Thompson was a good soldier and did his duty well until he was taken sick--.”

Captain Berger had retained his Morning Report book after the war and was able to tell the pension examiners that Thompson was sent to the Post Hospital at Fort Delaware on August 14, 1865, the day after their arrival at Fort Delaware from Baltimore. The 1884 medical report from the Surgeon General’s office to the Commissioner of Pensions stated that Thompson was suffering from gastritis at Fort Delaware and was returned to duty on September 7th,.1865.

A report from the Adjutant General’s Office a few days later in 1884 states that he was admitted to a hospital (place not stated) on September 4th, 1865 suffering from gonorrhea and returned to duty on September 11th.

Captain Berger noted that “I did not see him after he was left at the said hospital [Fort Delaware Post Hospital] until the company came back to Baltimore to be mustered out.” Berger’s Record of Events state that Company G was moved to Wilmington, Delaware on August 24th before being returned to Baltimore. The 196th Ohio Infantry was mustered out at Baltimore, Maryland on September 11, 1865.

Thomas apparently had received 1/3 of his $100 enlistment bounty on or before June 30, 1865 when last paid. At his muster out, he was paid another 1/3 with $33.55 cents still due him on September 11, 1865.

Thomas Thompson returned home to Urbana, Ohio and married Mary Katharine Aue. The couple moved to Brownville, Nebraska where Thomas died on May 11, 1880 still suffering from the chronic diarrhea and gastritis contracted while in Federal service in 1865.


	Enter supporting content here