Albert F. Thompson

When I saw that Luther Thompson's brother had died in the Civil War, in Baton Rouge, LA no less, I had to learn more. Most New Englanders tend to that important battles were fought so far south in the War Between the States. The Siege of Port Hudson occurred between May and July 1863 and was basically a battle to win control of the Mississippi River.

This is an exceptional map offered by the Library of Congress. Open it up in another window to follow along with Albert's journey. In addition, I have a Google map available with most of the locations posted in order. 

Like many of Connecticut's men, Albert Thompson mustered on November 11, 1862. Like Arthur Talcott, Albert joined up after President Lincoln asked for 100,000 volunteers to fight in the war. He had just celebrated his 19th birthday. Albert and his compatriots gathered at the what is now the Old State House in Hartford. Samuel K. Ellis of Company G wrote of his experience 50 years after the fact, remembering that they arrived on September 8th to find not tents, but barracks that "resembled the cow sheds..." They remained here until mid-November when they boarded a steamer and headed down the Connecticut River to Long Island. The accommodations on L.I. were worse, with their tents pitched and real shelter to be found. Ellis wrote, "the life of a soldier is tedious and wearisome." 

On November 14, the 25th boarded a ship and began their journey south. Their orders were to put in a Ship Island off the coast of Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi River. They arrived on December 14. Ellis wrote "We arrived at Ship Island at noon and found about the most God forsaken miserable hole, man ever got into. The sand was ankle deep everywhere."

They continued up the Mississippi to New Orleans where they "got our fill of oranges and victuals" and finally ended up at Camp Parapet. Life in the Louisiana camp was full of drilling and inspections, and the weather made unexpected changes daily. Ellis wrote, “Following every rain-storm it cleared intensely cold for several days; then it became hot again; next we had another storm to subdue the intense heat. I don’t think these sudden changed agreed with the men, for we can a large number on the sick list.” On a visit to the hospital, he saw “the thin and wasted sufferers…many of them stricken down in their strength by swamp fever.”

It seems that the 25th did some waiting around and training (and getting sick) from December until March 10, 1863. At that time, they were sent in advance of a major column of soldiers to build earthworks and a bridge across the Bayou Sara (see top left of LOC map). During their time here, the men were part of a failed attempt to distract the Confederate garrison for long enough to allow several Union ships to pass unmolested. The land assault never occurred and only two ships were able to pass. The men of the 25^th sat by and witnessed the burning of the 22-year-old Confederate frigate Mississippi.

Once the main column of soldiers arrived, the 25th headed south to Baton Rouge where they set up at the aptly named Camp Misery. This break was short, and they soon marched amid frequent skirmishes to their first real battle- The Battle of Irish Bend (or the Battle of Nerson's Woods or the Battle of Franklin). Here, on April 14, the regiment had 96 casualties out of the 350 that were involved. Ellis wrote, “Our regiment suffered severely. For about two hours we were under a hot fire entirely unsupported. We went into the fight with 380 men and lost 83 killed and wounded and 14 missing.”

From Harper's Weekly

After this fierce battle, the 25^th marched on for several days through rain, swampland, and mud, skirmishing with the Confederates on occasion. By the time they were given orders to “advance as skirmishers” on May 23^rd, the men were worn out. They had to break a path through thorns, fields, water, vines, and bushes, and according to Ellis, “many a strong man gave out with fatigue and exhaustion.” The siege on Port Hudson had begun.

If you take a look at the Google map, you can see that Port Hudson is a highly advantageous location for an army. It was at a sharp and narrow bend in the river and the Confederate army was situated on a strong rise- the perfect defensible position.

Over the next weeks, worn out and almost constantly on the front lines, the 25^th lost many men. The regiment had been in a nearly constant battle for over a month, and wouldn’t get a break anytime soon. On May 27^th, a coordinated effort by General Banks and his army was meant to break through Confederate defenses and take Port Hudson once and for all. This attack is summed up by Ellis.

          The valley was thick with felled trees, and heavy underbrush, while thick and black rolled the battle-smoke. There was a hill on our left, strongly entrenched and from here loomed a big gun… It was here that we had a taste of real war in all its horrors. It was a sort of floating panorama that passed before me, a hideous dream. There was a roaring and crashing of artillery, bursting shells and the rattle of muskets… there were men dropping here and there…

From Harper's Weekly

Due to unreliable leaders and an uncoordinated army, nearly 1,600 men were wounded and over 300 were killed. The failed attack was a huge blow to Union morale.

A similarly unsuccessful attack took place on June 14, wherein nearly 2,000 more men were wounded or killed. Most likely, this is the battle in which Albert Thompson was injured. The assault was a mess of confusion, with soldiers ordered forward, ordered back, and ordered to halt. Men were struck with sunstroke which killed several of them. Others were struck and “after the whizzing of the bullets… had died away, all was still but the groans that could be heard upon the bloody battlefield.” Men who were wounded or ill were brought nearby hospitals and field hospitals. Schools and colleges that had closed due to the war were popular locations. Like most victims of the Civil War, more soldiers died from disease and exposure during the Siege of Port Hudson than from battle wounds.

Albert Thompson died on June 19, 1863. No information about how he died was found. Sadly, Albert’s family most likely found out about his death nearly six months later. The Hartford Courant and Hartford Weekly Times printed dozens of obituaries and memorials from Port Hudson in their January 1864 issues.

The 48 day Siege of Port Hudson finally ended on July 9, 1862 when the Confederates finally ran out of supplies. The Mississippi River was open to the Union. This massive siege changed the course of the war.

Sources:

http://www.archive.org/stream/enlistmentcasual00horarich#page/732/mode/1up

https://www.loc.gov/resource/gvhs01.vhs00139/

https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/71hudson/71hudson.htm

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/65350/Port+Hudson+1863c+Siege+Map+10x12/Port+Hudson+1863+Siege+Map/Louisiana/

The Twenty-fifth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the ...

The Thompson Murder: The Trial

This is the continuation of a previous post. 

THE FARMINGTON MURDER

Examination of Moisture and Smith—

They are Held for Trial

The trial of Henry Smith and Theodore Moister for the murder of Luther G. Thompson began on January 8, 1867 in Farmington, CT. They had been held in a local jail for week after their arrest. The courtroom was crowded, and the men were represented by S.F. Jones and Mr. Cowles.

During the following discussion, we have to remember that the Thompson women had been through a traumatic event which had taken place two and a half months before.

When she came to the stand, Mrs. Thompson’s testimony was confused and confusing. The Times wrote in a sort of short-hand which makes it difficult to parse out the actual testimony. Instead of assuming she was speaking of the same person in each context, I’m going to call them the walking man (the one who passed by the house on Saturday afternoon), the caller (the one who knocked and asked for assistance Saturday evening), and Smith. She seems to have had little to no knowledge about Moister.

Mrs. Thompson testified that on the afternoon of the murder, the Thompson family had seen a man walk up the hill by their house and back down again. She said that the walking man was about the same size as the caller; and noted that the walking man had a round top hat and a black coat and she believed him to be Smith, who she pointed out in the courtroom. She also believed that she had never seen the walking man before that Saturday, but did see him on Sunday when the police brought him to her house and asked if she and Mary recognized him as the caller.

She was convinced that she had never seen the walking man before Saturday afternoon. She saw him from far away and noticed that he had light blonde hair. The walking man was also about the same height as Smith, and Smith’s height was about the same as the caller. She further described the walking man’s clothing, saying he wore a loose overcoat, dark pants, and a round-top hat. She though she recognized the coat Smith wore on Sunday as the same as the walking man’s.

Mrs. Thompson explained, in an incredible roundabout way that in her mind the walking man was Smith; that the walking man, Smith, and the caller were the same size; and that all three wore similar clothing. Below, I have added a couple of fashion plates from Harper’s Bazaar from this decade. If you saw one of these men from afar, would you recognize them when close up?

While Mrs. Thompson later thought she recognized Smith as the walking man, on the day the police brought him to her home she told the police she did not recognize him.   

Luther’s sister Mary testified next. Her testimony is less convoluted than her mother’s, but still somewhat unconvincing. She claimed that she saw the caller face-on and that “Smith is the man” who came to their door asking for assistance with his wagon. She recognized his voice, face, and clothing. She also noted that the walking man was the same size as Smith and that he had on a large black coat and round top hat, just as her mother testified the walking man wore.

While this testimony seems damning, the rest of her statement loses steam. On Sunday, she did see Smith at her house. “I think he was the same man that called in the evening [but] did not tell [the police] it was the same man[.] [I] think I then had a little doubt.” She then goes on to say that at an examination three weeks after the murder she “recognized [Smith’s] voice” as that of the caller. The day after the murder, neither woman mentioned that they recognized Smith as the caller or the strange, yet apparently memorable walking man. Why would they keep quiet on such an important detail?

Henry Hawley, one of the neighbors who was called upon to search for the body, testified next. Hawley discussed the placement of the body, the state of the road, and the nature of the traffic that went by on the evening of the murder. The most pertinent information was that two men in a wagon stopped, offered no help, and answered the man’s inquiries in an evasive manner.

Both Hawley and selectman Winthrop Wadsworth mentioned the wagon tracks near the body, saying that they had similar measurements (but not exactly the same) to a wagon that Moister and Smith owned.

Wadsworth continued the next morning. His testimony included a lengthy statement on the dress of Moister and Smith, especially that which they wore on Sunday to the Thompson’s house. Several others were called to discuss the events in the area on the night of the murder, most of which were mentioned earlier.

The judge in the case found just cause and bound the men in the Hartford jail until a March jury trial could be scheduled. Moister and Smith languished in jail until April 2, 1867, when the Superior Court addressed the crime. After a full day of listening to the same witnesses giving the same testimony as the previous trial, State Attorney Hubbard stated, “he did not consider the body of evidence against the prisoners of such weight as to make it worth while to refer it to the decision of the jury.” The case was nolled*.

Moister and Smith went free.

Let me know in the comments what you think of the results!

*nolle prosequi. (no-lay pro-say-kwee) n. Latin for "we shall no longer prosecute," which is a declaration made to the judge by a prosecutor in a criminal case (or by a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit) either before or during trial, meaning the case against the defendant is being dropped.

The Murder of Mr. Thompson: The Suspects

This is a contination of a previous post. 

THE FARMINGTON MURDER

The selectmen of Farmington were searching for a murderer based on very few clues and an incredibly general description.

The October 27 Times stated that a man “answering precisely to the description given by Mrs. Thompson” (we can only hope she gave a better description to the police than the newspaper!) had been seen in a shop in Farmington on that same day. He was, “short, hair cropped, had a low round topped hat, features haggard, eyes dull, appearing as if he had been on a spree. His voice was peculiar, a fact specially remarked by Mrs. Thompson and her daughter.”

A Mr. Steele, who lived on the road to Bloomfield said that on the night of the murder, he heard two or three people talking amongst themselves on the road near his home. He saw one man “muttering to himself in an incoherent manner” and that he heard the man say the words “Sorry I did it,” “I killed him,” and “blood, blood.” Another neighbor claimed to have heard similar murmurings. Other sightings were also reported, including one by a man in Berlin, who insisted that the murderer knocked on his door at 2 a.m. Saturday morning claiming he was lost and needed directions to Berlin.

On October 26, the Courant swapped their dramatic take on the event for a deeply sympathetic one in their next article on the murder. Earlier articles were rife with mystery and gore. Suddenly, the “mysteriously murdered” man was the son of a “widowed mother” who had “completely broken down” and “the house…where she expected to live out her few remaining years in peace and quietness… is darkened by a shadow… She cannot live there in the future without being continually reminded of the shocking events… and feeling unsafe beneath the shelter of that humble roof.” It continued that the murderer would not have killed Luther Thompson if only they understood the “misery he has occasioned.”  

The same article mentions Luther’s enemies and that he had “stood almost daily in fear” of being injured or killed by them. The Courant was informed by a “reliable authority” and assumed that someone who knew Luther must have known that he was going to be murdered in such a way. This contrasts directly with the Times, as they noted that he had not an enemy in the world and that he was “a quiet, peaceful citizen, of excellent character,” a fact which even the Courant had reported in earlier articles.

The motive of the murder remained a mystery, as Thompson had no money or watch on his person, and no money in the house. A neighbor had withdrawn a substantial amount of cash from the bank, and one source suggested that the murderer had mistaken Thompson for the neighbor.

Despite the conflicting reports, information, and suspects, the Farmington selectmen were trying their best to find the murderer of Luther G. Thompson. It seems that one possible suspect was a French-Canadian who had been seen near the house and in the vicinity. This was never confirmed, and a man fitting his description was seen leaving Hartford on a train soon after. They interviewed everyone who had been on the road or near the Thompson house on the night of October 20, 1866. The selectmen worked together and met often, comparing notes and discoveries. A reward for information was up to $5,000- no insignificant sum at the end of the Civil War.

John Connell, a man from Collinsville, was the first to be arrested for the crime. His description (short hair and a hat) and the fact that he had been seen in Farmington were enough to make him a suspect. His whereabouts on Saturday proved that he had nothing to do with the murder

In early November, a suspect was identified as Charles Osborne of East Windsor. The officer who visited his home found that he didn’t match the description of the murderer and that Mr. Osborne was a “quiet and inoffensive man.” He had also returned from a sea voyage after the murder and therefore couldn’t have been the man seen in Berlin or be the murderer.

A Charles Osgood of South Windsor was also a possible suspect. He was a 25-year-old convict who had spent time in jail for threatening his family. The article discussing Osgood is hard to read, so the details are literally fuzzy. It seems that while the detective had reason to follow up, this wasn’t the killer.

The trail went cold until late December when two arrests were finally made. The suspects, Theodore Moister (or as the Times said “Moisture”) and Henry A. Smith, both German men were living in Moister's house in West Hartford.  Henry was married to Moister's daughter at the time. While no mention of them was made in the newspapers until December 31, the Courant mentioned that they had been suspected the day after the murder, but neither Mrs. Thompson nor Mary had recognized either of them when the men were brought to their home. Moister and Smith were supposed to have had a disagreement with Thompson over the sale of a piece of property and their wagon had been seen in the vicinity on the night of the murder by Mr. Spring and his son.

To be continued...

The Murder of Mr. Thompson: The Murder

Shocking Murder in West Hartford:

Julius Thompson Enticed from his House and Murdered in the Road 

THE OBJECT OF THE MURDER A MYSTERY

--THE MURDERER UNKNOWN--

A SUSPICIOUS STRANGER

There’s something about those late 19^th and early 20^th century headlines that really catches the eye. Fantastical headlines like this one stirred the imagination and ensured a reader’s interest. But behind all the adjectives are real stories about people who died in extraordinary or violent ways.

Like most of those I tell, the story of Luther Thompson has been pretty well forgotten. It was indeed mysterious at the time and is still today. Despite the outcome of the hunt for the killers, I think that some doubt still remains as to how he came to his demise.

According to the Hartford Courant, on Saturday, October 20, 1866, at about 7:30 p.m., a man knocked on the door of the Thompson's home (Heirs of Horace Thompson on map) located near the current Sunset Farm area of West Hartford. The man claimed that his wagon had broken down and that he needed assistance fixing it. “Mr. Julius Thompson, a bachelor, about 40 years of age” put on his shoes and headed out to help the man (the newspaper was specific about the shoes and not so much about his name).

The Hartford Times reported that before stepping out, Thompson said, “Mother, that man looks like the fellow that was along here, back and forth, this afternoon, about 3 o’clock.” All three family members had seen a stranger walk up the road by their home and back down that afternoon. Mrs. Thompson recalled looking out the window and described the person as “a short man, with cropped hair, a low crowned hat, and dark clothes.”

Mrs. Thompson and her “16-year-old” daughter Mary began to worry when Thomson hadn't returned by 9 p.m. Mrs. Thompson sent Mary to ask a neighbor if he had seen her brother. She walked down the Talcott Mountain Road to the Farmington Road to the nearest neighbors’ house. After searching for nearly an hour, Henry Barbour and Luke Collins found Thompson's body lying beneath a large willow tree near the corner of the two main roads.

It was apparent that Thompson had been badly beaten and had suffered from a broken skull, which was most likely the death blow. The murder weapon may have been a round stick, or “sand club” (a long, sand-filled cloth or leather weapon), which could explain the bruising and lack of bleeding and cuts. The body was brought into the family’s home, where a doctor examined the remains.

Ironically, the next day, the Courant reported that "The accounts as published in the city papers generally agree on the main points..." while also saying "The man murdered was named Luther G. Thompson." The paper not only got his name wrong, but Luther was only 36 years old, and his "16-year-old" sister was actually 25 years old. It should be noted that the weekly Hartford Times was correct in their initial information, but the story first ran several days after the murder, giving them time to check their facts.

In a depressing twist, several people had ridden by the willow tree that night and noticed the body. One of the riders, Mr. Newton Hart, said that he assumed it was a drunk man passed out in the gutter. A Mr. Spring and his son had actually driven by Thompson before he died, seeing him struggle to rise from the ground and thinking him drunk. If they had stopped, it is possible the father and son could have offered comfort to the dying man. 

Stay tuned for part 2!