Thomas Grimke Rhett | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 2, 1821 Schenectady, New York |
| Died | July 28, 1878 (aged 56) Baltimore, Maryland |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States of America Confederate States of America  Khedivate of Egypt |
| Service/ | United States Army Confederate States Army Egyptian Army |
| Years of service | 1845–1861 (US) 1861–1865 (CSA) 1865–1873 (Egypt) |
| Rank | Major (US) Brigadier General (South Carolina) Major (CSA) Colonel (Egypt) |
| Battles/wars | Mexican-American War American Civil War |
Thomas Grimke Rhett was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and a United States Army officer who served from July 1, 1845, to April 1, 1861. He served in the Mexican-American War in 1847–1848. Rhett was awarded a brevet appointment as captain for gallantry in the defense of Puebla, Mexico, during the Siege of Puebla, October 12, 1847. After his resignation from the U.S. Army, April 1, 1861, he was appointed a brigadier general in the South Carolina Militia[1] but did not serve in that office.[2] He was a staff officer in the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War from April 1861 until May 31, 1862.[3] He first served as voluntary aide-de-camp to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard and then major from April to July, 1861. Rhett then served as chief of staff to Beauregard's successor, General Joseph E. Johnston. After Johnston was wounded on May 31, 1862, and was succeeded in command by General Robert E. Lee, Rhett was transferred to the District of Arkansas in Confederacy's Trans-Mississippi Department where he served as chief of ordnance. From April 1863 until the end of the war in 1865, he served as chief of artillery in the Trans-Mississippi Department. From 1865 to 1873, he served as a colonel of ordnance in the Egyptian Army.
- ^ Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1. p. 608; Krick, Robert E. L. Staff Officers in Gray: A Biographical Register of the Staff Officers in the Army of Northern Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8078-2788-8. p. 253; and Allardice, Bruce S. More Generals in Gray. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-8071-3148-0. page 198 show the appointment as brigadier general, while Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske, eds. Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, Volume 5. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1888. OCLC 490983053. p. 230 shows it as major general
- ^ Allardice, Bruce S. More Generals in Gray. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-8071-3148-0. p. 198.
- ^ Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1. p. 608.