Talk:Charles Henry Tompkins

One or two generals?

Over at Find-A-Grave, there are two biographies of "Charles Henry Tompkins". One is certainly our man; the other one looks suspiciously like him. Does anyone have sufficient references to be able to state with certainty that there was either only one or two high-ranking "Charles Henry Tompkins" in the Civil War? --Alvestrand (talk) 20:57, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Well dawg-gone-it, I believe that you are right. What are the odds? Looks like the 2nd Tompkins was the Colonel of the Vermont Cavalry, not the first as the article states. If you'd like to remove those refs and re-write, or I'll get back to it soon and do so. I'll go get an older Register of Graduates from the library and verify the 1st's bio and make sure the 2nd's is no longer mixed in. Thanks for finding this.  Ahodges7   ^talk 01:52, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Actually, the fix was easy. There was one erroneous sentence and two citations incorrectly attributed to this Charles Henry Tompkins. It should now be fixed. Thanks again for this catch!  Ahodges7   ^talk 02:03, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

This article still incorrectly mixed up the two Tompkins, so I removed the portions related to the second man. Here is a short bio of him which I have written for the upcoming Gettysburg Encyclopedia. (Colonel, Chief of Artillery of the Union Sixth Corps). Tompkins was born in Orange County, New York, on May 15, 1834, and moved to Providence, R.I. when he was ten. He later became a merchant there and was associated from 1853 with the Providence Marine Corps of Artillery. He commanded a Rhode Island battery early in the war in the Shenandoah Valley under General Robert Patterson. On August 1, 1861, he was promoted to major and then on September 13 to colonel of the 1st Rhode Island Artillery. Two months later he became Chief of Artillery of Charles Stone’s division, which later became John Sedgwick’s division of the Second Corps. After meritorious service in the Peninsula Campaign, Sedgwick recommended to Rhode Island’s governor that Tompkins be promoted to brigadier general of infantry, a position he did not receive. Tompkins subsequently led the right center division of artillery, 88 guns, at Fredericksburg. When Sedgwick assumed command of the Sixth Corps early in 1863, he brought in Tompkins as his Chief of Artillery. At Gettysburg the corps primarily was in reserve, but Hunt ordered Tompkins to ride along the line and place his batteries as he saw fit. Sedgwick and Henry Hunt both endorsed Tompkins for a brigadiership in August 1863, but again Tompkins would stay in the artillery. When Sedgwick was shot at Spotsylvania, he fell lifeless into Tompkins’ arms. Tompkins later served at Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and in the Shenandoah Valley at Third Winchester. In November 1864 he received a brevet promotion to brigadier general in recognition of his “meritorious, gallant, and distinguished service.” He fell ill in early 1865 and missed the Appomattox Campaign. He was honorably discharged and mustered out on April 21, 1865. He moved to Somerville, N.J., raised a family, and entered business. He died on August 9, 1895, and is buried in New Somerville Cemetery. He is at times confused with another Charles Henry Tompkins, a Medal of Honor recipient at the battle of Fairfax Court House who later served on the trial board for the Lincoln assassins. Scott Mingus

Similarly, I have updated the Union brevet generals list over the same confusion; this Tompkins received his brevet in the mass brevets awarded between 1866 and 1869 (all of which are dated March 13, 1865); the other Tompkins was one of the very few men who actually did receive a brevet from President Lincoln rather than President Johnson, and that information was listed under this one instead. We should probably go ahead and create an article for the other Tompkins to hopefully keep everything straight. Well, that or we'll just confuse ourselves more... IcarusPhoenix (talk) 18:30, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

Dispute with Grant

'Because of a dispute with General Grant... he was posted to numerous remote and austere western posts.'

It would be interesting to know what the dispute was about. Did it concern the Lincoln investigation? Valetude (talk) 15:51, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

Civil War service

Not clear what he was doing in the second half of the war. Valetude (talk) 12:30, 7 December 2015 (UTC)