Thomas Lyon Hamer (July 1800December 2, 1846) was a United States Democratic congressman and soldier. Hamer was born in July 1800 in

Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Northumberland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,647. Its county seat is Sunbury. The county was formed in 1772 from parts of Lancas ...

. He was a school teacher before being admitted to the bar in 1821. He was an Ohio

Presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

in 1828 for

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

. He practiced law in

Georgetown, Ohio Georgetown is a village in Brown County, Ohio, United States located about 36 miles southeast of Cincinnati. The population was 4,331 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County. Georgetown was the childhood home of Ulysses S. Gra ...

and was elected to the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

in 1828, which body unanimously chose him as their

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

in December 1829. As Speaker, he sought to maintain independence from party politics; although Jackson's supporters controlled a slight advantage over

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...

' supporters, he appointed Adams men as a majority in seven of the fifteen standing committees.''The History of Brown County, Ohio''. Chicago: Beers, 1883. When the Jackson caucus proposed enforcing

party discipline Party discipline is a system of political norms, rules and subsequent respective consequences for deviance that are designed to ensure the relative cohesion of members of the respective party group. In political parties specifically (often refe ...

during judicial elections, Hamer fought the proposal fiercely; envisioning a choice between the party candidate and the candidate he believed best qualified, he denounced a vote for the party candidate as

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

of his oath of office. These statements won him criticism from party stalwarts who deemed him unfaithful to the interests of his party. Following service in the House, Hamer was elected to the U.S. Congress. While serving as a congressman he nominated Hiram Ulysses Grant, the son of

Jesse Root Grant Jesse Root Grant (January 23, 1794 – June 29, 1873) was an American farmer, tanner and successful leather merchant who owned tanneries and leather goods shops in several different states throughout his adult life. He is best known as the ...

, a constituent (the friend of his father-in-law), to be a cadet at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

. Hamer incorrectly put on the nomination the name ''"Ulysses S. Grant"'' (assuming his middle name was his mother's maiden name of Simpson, the custom of the time) and the name stayed with the new cadet. When the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

broke out Hamer volunteered as a private in the Ohio Volunteers, and was quickly commissioned as a major in June 1846. Popular and well respected, Hamer was appointed a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

of volunteers on July 1, 1846. He was placed in command of the 1st Brigade of William O. Butler's Volunteer Division of the Army of Occupation. He led his brigade with distinction into the fighting at the

battle of Monterrey In the Battle of Monterrey (September 21–24, 1846) during the Mexican–American War, General Pedro de Ampudia and the Mexican Army of the North was defeated by the Army of Occupation, a force of United States Regulars, Volunteers an ...

. When General Butler fell wounded, Hamer assumed command of the division. When Mexican General

Pedro de Ampudia Pedro Nolasco Martín José María de la Candelaria Francisco Javier Ampudia y Grimarest (January 30, 1805 – August 7, 1868) was born in Havana, Cuba, and served Mexico as a Northern army officer for most of his life. At various points he was ...

requested to discuss surrender terms, it was Hamer who delivered the message to General Taylor. While still serving in the army he was elected to another term in Congress but died unexpectedly while stationed with the army at Monterrey on December 2, 1846. Upon Hamer's death, General

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

exclaimed "I have lost the balance wheel of my volunteer army" and Lt. Ulysses S. Grant also lamented that the "U.S. has lost a future president." Grant later described him as "one of the ablest men Ohio ever produced." He was buried in his hometown of Georgetown, a few miles from his namesake village of Hamersville. Also named in his honor is Hamer Township in neighboring Highland County, Ohio. File:ThomasHamer1.JPG, Headstone of Thomas L. Hamer located in Georgetown, Ohio. File:ThomasHamer2.JPG, Grave marker of Thomas L. Hamer. File:Thomas Lyon Hamer Historical Marker, Georgetown OH.JPG, Thomas L. Hamer Historical Marker next to U.S. Grant Boyhood Home

References

Retrieved on 2009-05-26 * Bauer, K. Jack, ''The Mexican–American War, 1846–48'' (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1992). * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamer, Thomas L. 1800 births 1846 deaths American volunteer soldiers of the Mexican–American War People from Georgetown, Ohio Speakers of the Ohio House of Representatives 1828 United States presidential electors Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio 19th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Burials in Ohio