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T.B. Lamar

T.B. Lamar

Confederate (CSA)

Lieutenant Colonel

Thompson Bird Lamar

(1828 - 1864)

Home State: Florida

Education: Jefferson Medical College, Class of 1850

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 5th Florida Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

Son of Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (1797-1834), he was a wealthy physician, planter, and Florida state legislator before the War. In 1860 he was a 32 year old "gentleman" in Monticello, Jefferson County, FL. He mustered there as Captain of Company I, 1st Florida Infantry on 19 April 1861 and was discharged 30 January 1862. He enrolled again and mustered as Lieutenant Colonel of the 5th Florida Infantry on 8 April 1862.

On the Campaign

He was with his regiment in Maryland in September 1862, and took command at Sharpsburg on 17 September after Colonel Hately assumed Brigade command (and was wounded). He was himself wounded in the arm at Sharpsburg and relieved by Major Davis.

The rest of the War

He was detailed as Assistant Adjutant General to General Joseph Johnston to January 1864 then was appointed Colonel of his regiment on 28 March 1864 (to date from 6 July 1863) after Colonel Hately was disabled and retired. He was wounded by gunshots to his left hand, losing his index finger, and left leg in action in the Wilderness, VA on 6 May 1864 and was killed by a sniper at Petersburg, VA on 30 August 1864.

References & notes

His basic service information from the State of Florida,1 with details from Allardice2 and his Compiled Service Records,3 online from fold3. His wounding at Sharpsburg from the CMH;4 the command relationships there from Carmen.5 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His gravesite is on Findagrave, source also of his picture, from a photograph contributed by Conner.

He married Sarah Burch Bailey (1830-1909) in April 1850 and they had 5 children.

Some references have him wounded and captured by the 4th New Jersey Infantry (see Colonel Hatch's report) at Crampton's Gap on 14 September 1862; this is likely confusion with his brother Jefferson Mirabeau Lamar who was mortally wounded and captured at Crampton's Gap, and died nearby the next day.

Birth

01/27/1828; Milledgeville, GA

Death

08/30/1864; Petersburg, VA; burial in Bellamy Cemetery, Jefferson County, FL

Notes

1   State of Florida, Board of State Institutions, Soldiers of Florida in the Seminole Indian, Civil and Spanish-American Wars, Live Oak (FL): Democrat Print, 1903, pg. 136  [AotW citation 15449]

2   Allardice, Bruce S., Confederate Colonels, Columbia (Mo): University of Missouri Press, 2008, pg. 230  [AotW citation 15450]

3   US War Department, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, Record Group No. 109 (War Department Collection of Confederate Records), Washington DC: US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 1903-1927  [AotW citation 28952]

4   Evans, Clement Anselm, editor, Confederate Military History, 12 Volumes, Atlanta: The Confederate Publishing Company, 1899, Vol. XI (TX & FL), pg. 148  [AotW citation 28953]

5   Carman, Ezra Ayers, and Dr. Thomas G. Clemens, editor, The Maryland Campaign of September 1862, 3 volumes, El Dorado Hills (CA): Savas Beatie, 2010-17, Vol. II, pg. 546  [AotW citation 28954]