Gates Phillips Thruston (June 11, 1835 – December 9, 1912) was an American lawyer and businessman. Born in Ohio, he served in the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and started a legal practice in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

in the

reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

. He served as the president of the State Insurance Company. He also was an amateur archeologist and the author of several books about Native American mounds and artifacts. His collection is held at the

Tennessee State Museum The Tennessee State Museum is a large museum in Nashville depicting the history of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The current facility opened on October 4, 2018, at the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street at the foot of Capitol Hill ...

and

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

Early life

Gates P. Thruston was born on June 11, 1835, in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. His paternal grandfather,

Buckner Thruston Buckner Thruston (February 9, 1763 – August 30, 1845) was an American lawyer, slaveowner and politician who served as United States Senator from Kentucky as well as in the Virginia House of Delegates and became a United States circuit judge o ...

, was a United States Senator. Thurston graduated as a valedictorian with a Doctor of Humane Letters in Archeology and Literature from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

in 1855. He received a law degree from the

Cincinnati Law School The University of Cincinnati College of Law is the law school of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. History The University of Cincinnati College of Law was founded in 1833 as the Cincinnati Law School. It is the fourth oldest conti ...

Civil War

He volunteered for the

. He joined the Union Army, being commissioned as a captain in the 1st Ohio Infantry Regiment. He took part in the battles of Shiloh and

Stones River The Stones River (properly spelled Stone's River) is a major stream of the eastern portion of Tennessee's Nashville Basin region and a tributary of the Cumberland River. It is named after explorer and longhunter Uriah Stone, who navigated the r ...

, in the later as ordnance officer on the staff of the XX Corps under Maj.Gen. Alexander M. McCook, his former regimental commander. Afterward, he became an aide and adjutant to Major General William S. Rosecrans when he commanded the

Army of the Cumberland The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio. History The origin of the Army of the Cumberland dates back to the creatio ...

, though eventually returning to the XX Corps as its chief of staff. Thruston fought in the

Battle of Chickamauga The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 18–20, 1863, between the United States Army and Confederate States Army, Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a U.S. Army offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign, in southe ...

and continued his staff work under Maj.Gen. George H. Thomas during the Atlanta Campaign. He eventually was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and served as Judge-Advocate General of the Army of the Cumberland; afterward being

brevetted In military terminology, a brevet ( or ) is a warrant which gives commissioned officers a higher military rank as a reward without necessarily conferring the authority and privileges granted by that rank. The promotion would be noted in the of ...

Brigadier General for his services during the war. Toward the end of the Civil War and during early

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

, Thruston established provost courts, arguing that the only means for African-Americans to be accorded equal treatment under the law was through the supervision of the Army.Joshua E. Kastenberg, Law in War, Law as War: Brigadier General Joseph Holt and the Judge Advocate General’s Department in the Civil War and Early Reconstruction, 1861-1865 (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2011), 290-291

Career

After the war, Thruston became a lawyer in

. He retired from legal practice in 1878. Two years later, in 1880, he was appointed president of the State Insurance Company.

Personal life

Thruston was married twice. He married his first wife, Ida Hamilton, the daughter of James M. Hamilton, in December 1865. In 1894, he married Fanny Dorman. He had a son, Gates Thruston Jr., who predeceased him. Thruston served as the vice president of the

Tennessee Historical Society The Tennessee Historical Society is a historical society for the U.S. state of Tennessee. It was established in 1849. Its founding president from 1849 to 1856 was Nathaniel Cross, a Princeton University, Princeton-educated professor of Ancient Lang ...

. An amateur archaeologist, Thruston dug at Noel Farm in Nashville, where he found Native American artifacts, and he started a collection. He also dug at

Pompei Pompei (; ), also known in English as Pompeii ( ) after the name of the ancient city, is a city and in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy. It contains the ancient Roman ruins of Pompeii, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History Modern Po ...

in Italy. In 1890, he published his first book privately. Entitled ''The Antiquities of Tennessee and the Adjacent States'', it was reviewed in ''

American Anthropologist ''American Anthropologist'' is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 m ...

'', the flagship journal of the

American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropo ...

. When it was republished for commercial use in 1897, it was reviewed in ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'', the journal of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. Thurston wrote several other books. Thruston was a commissioner of the Watkins Institute. He was also the president of the Nashville Art Association. Additionally, he served on the board of trustees of the

University of Nashville University of Nashville was a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It was established in 1806 as Cumberland College. It existed as a distinct entity until 1909; operating at various times a medical school, a four-year military college, a ...

. Additionally, Thruston was a collector of medals and coins for which he won an award at the

Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition The Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition was an exposition held in Nashville from May 1 – October 31, 1897 in what is now Centennial Park. A year late, it celebrated the 100th anniversary of Tennessee's entry into the union in 17 ...

. He was a fellow of the

. Thruston died on December 9, 1912, in Nashville, Tennessee. A Presbyterian minister conducted his funeral; pall-bearers included

James Hampton Kirkland James Hampton Kirkland (September 9, 1859 – August 5, 1939) was an American Latinist and university administrator. He served as the second List of Chancellors of Vanderbilt University, chancellor of Vanderbilt University from 1893 to 1937. ...

and Robert Ewing, and he was buried at the Mount Olivet Cemetery. His collection of Native American artifacts, which he had donated to

in 1907, has been exhibited at the

since 1986. A book about the collection authored by Stephen D. Cox, the curator of cultural history at the museum, was published in 1985.

Works

* * * *

References

External links

Gates P. Thruston
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thruston, Gates P. 1835 births 1912 deaths American people of English descent Businesspeople from Dayton, Ohio Miami University alumni Businesspeople from Nashville, Tennessee Lawyers from Nashville, Tennessee Union army officers University of Cincinnati College of Law alumni People of Ohio in the American Civil War 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American lawyers