News : Solemn anniversary: Historians honor Vinton Civil War soldier who died 4/2/1865

Capt. Thomas Drummond died 150 years ago, April 2, 1865 in the Civil War Battle of Five Forks, Va.

This plaque in the IBSSS lobby honors Capt. Drummond.

American history enthusiasts have been looking forward to April 2015 for a long time. This month marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, as well as Lincoln's Assassination.

Today, April 2, marks the 150th anniversary of the death of one of Vinton's most prominent Civil War soldiers.

Capt. Thomas Drummond, born in Ohio, moved to Iowa and had been a local business leader, the editor of the original Vinton Eagle, a state representative and state senator. He was mortally wounded late in the day on April 1, 1865, in the Battle of Five Forks, Va., eight days before General Lee and General Grant famously met at Appomattox to officially end the Civil War. He died the next day, and before his death, requested to be buried beside his mother in St. Clairsville, Ohio.

In recent years, Edmund Sargus, Sr., who is now the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio, has been researching the story of Drummond for a book he is writing with the help of his son, Edmund Sargus, Jr.

"For 46 years of my life, I lived 100 yards from the cemetery where Capt. Drummond is buried," said the judge. The authors are in the process of looking for a literary agent for the book, which Sargus describes as historical fiction.

The pair recently wrote a column about Capt. Drummond, his military service and his personal and political conflicts with the other Vinton editor, for the New York Times. A link to that article appears below.

This tribute to Capt. Drummond appeared in an "Annals of Iowa" publication years after his death:

Several gentlemen in Benton county have recently started a subscription to provide a brass or bronze tablet to be placed, with the consent of the Board of Control, in the Asylum for the Blind at Vinton, to the memory of Captain Thomas Drummond. Previous to 1861 he was a well known editor and politician, and his claim upon the gratitude of his State and county rests upon the fact that, aside from his record as a soldier, he was the principal factor in the founding of the Iowa Asylum for the Blind. He was for many years editor of The Vinton Eagle, which he conducted with a good degree of ability. Drummond was one of the earliest Benton county men to offer his services to the government at the outbreak of the civil war. Through the efforts of United States Senators Grimes and Harlan, he was appointed second lieutenant in the famous Seventh cavalry. Governor Kirkwood later on appointed him lieutenant-colonel of the Third Iowa cavalry, with which, however, he remained but a short time. Returning to his old command in the regular army, he rose to the grade of captain, for some time ranking General Custer, who belonged to that regiment. He was mortally wounded in the battle of Five Forks, Va., when the fighting was practically over, and died a few hours later. At that time he was the senior officer of the regiment present and in command. He was a member of the Iowa house of representatives in 1858, and a state senator in 1860. It is most praiseworthy on the part of the people of Benton county thus to do honor to his memory. He was an able editor, a useful citizen in private life, an active and influential legislator, and a brave soldier whose brilliant young life was given to his country.

See the NY Times story about Drummond HERE.

See a story recounting how Drummond died, from the perspective of a Union chaplain, HERE.