Samuel Hopkins Thompson

He was the son of Theological Institute of Connecticut (now Hartford Theological Seminary) professor William Thompson and, at age 17 in 1860, lived with his family in South Windsor Hill, CT. He was a student at Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, Class of 1862, but may not have graduated before he enrolled on 13 August 1862 and mustered as First Lieutenant of Company H, 16th Connecticut Infantry on 24 August.

He was in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He died "at home" on 22 October 1862, probably as a result of his presence at Antietam, but the specific cause is not clear.

His service from the Adjutant General.1 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He was close friends, and possibly romantically involved, with Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (1844-1911). His death is given as the reason she wrote the best-selling novel The Gates Ajar (1868). Her first serious published work, A Sacrifice Consumed (Harpers, 1864), was specifically about him.

05/14/1843; East Windsor, CT

10/22/1862; South Windsor, CT; burial in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford, CT