Thomas Green (June 8, 1814 – April 12, 1864) was an American soldier and lawyer, who took part in the Texan Revolution of 1835–36, serving under Sam Houston, who rewarded him with a land grant. Green was clerk of the Texas Supreme Court until the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

, when he became a Confederate cavalry leader. After winning several victories, including the Battle of Valverde and the recapture of

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Gal ...

, he was promoted brigadier and assigned command of the cavalry division of the Trans-Mississippi Department. In the Red River Campaign, he was mortally wounded while charging a fleet of Federal gunboats. The Union naval commander

David Dixon Porter David Dixon Porter (June 8, 1813 – February 13, 1891) was a United States Navy admiral and a member of one of the most distinguished families in the history of the U.S. Navy. Promoted as the second U.S. Navy officer ever to attain the rank o ...

paid tribute to Green as a serious loss to the Confederacy.

Early life and career

Green was born in Buckingham County in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

to Nathan and Mary (Field) Green. The family moved to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

in 1817. He attended Jackson College and Cumberland College (Princeton, Kentucky) before he received a degree from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state ...

in 1834. He then studied law with his father, who was a judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court. When the Texas Revolution began, Green left Tennessee to join the rebel volunteers. He arrived in Nacogdoches in December 1835, and enlisted in Isaac N. Moreland's company on January 14, 1836. During the April 21

Battle of San Jacinto The Battle of San Jacinto ( es, Batalla de San Jacinto), fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day La Porte and Pasadena, Texas, was the final and decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Samuel Houston, the Texan Army engage ...

, Green helped operate the famed " Twin Sisters"

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder duri ...

s, the only artillery present in Sam Houston's army. A few days after the decisive victory, Houston rewarded Green with a commission as a lieutenant. In early May, he was promoted to major and assigned as the '' aide-de-camp ''to General Thomas J. Rusk. With hostilities over, Green resigned on May 30 and returned to Tennessee to resume studying law. In 1837, the legislature of the new

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from M ...

granted large tracts of land to leading veterans of the Revolution, including Green. After relocating to Fayette County, Green became a county surveyor at La Grange. That same year, fellow San Jacinto veteran William W. Gant nominated Green for the position of engrossing clerk for the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

. He was subsequently elected and held the office until 1839 when he represented Fayette County in the House of Representatives in the Fourth Texas Congress. After a single term, he chose not to run again and resumed his clerkship. During the Sixth and Eighth Texas Congresses, he served as secretary of the Senate. From 1841 to 1861, he was clerk of the Texas Supreme Court, in both the republic and the subsequent U.S. state. During his legislative career, Green continued his involvement with Texas's military. He participated in John H. Moore's 1840 campaign against the Comanches up the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

. When Mexican general Ráfael Vásquez briefly occupied San Antonio in March 1842, Green recruited the Travis County Volunteers and stood as their captain; the unit was not involved in combat. In response to this and two other Mexican incursions, Texas launched the punitive Somervell Expedition against Mexico; Green served as its inspector general.Barr, Alwyn.
"Green, Thomas".''Handbook of Texas Online''.
Retrieved July 23, 2015."Vasquez, Rafael".''Handbook of Texas Online''.
Retrieved July 23, 2015.Nance, Joseph Milton.
"Somervell Expedition".''Handbook of Texas Online''.
Retrieved July 23, 2015. In 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 Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico f ...

, Green recruited a company of Texas Rangers from LaGrange and served as their captain during the 1846 U.S. capture of

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

in the state of

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With ...

. Green married Mary Wallace Chalmers, daughter of the editor and politicia
John Gordon Chalmers
in 1847. The couple eventually had six children. Tom Green County, Texas, was named in his honor.

Civil War

After Texas seceded in early 1861, Green was elected

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

of the

5th Texas Cavalry Regiment The 5th Texas Cavalry Regiment or 5th Texas Mounted Rifles was a unit of mounted volunteers from Texas that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The unit was organized at San Antonio in August 1861 for the purpose o ...

, which, as part of a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

led by Brig. Gen. Henry H. Sibley, joined the invasion of New Mexico Territory in 1862. There, Green led the Confederate victory at the

Battle of Valverde The Battle of Valverde, also known as the Battle of Valverde Ford, was fought from February 20 to 21, 1862, near the town of Val Verde at a ford of the Rio Grande in Union-held New Mexico Territory, in what is today the state of New Mexico ...

in February. After a difficult retreat into Texas, he led his men, aboard the river steamer ''Bayou City'', to assist in the recapture of

on January 1, 1863. He was also involved in the seizure of the Union steamer ''Harriet Lane'' that same day.Lamb's, p. 338.

Bayou Teche Campaign

In the spring of 1863, Green commanded the First Cavalry Brigade in Richard Taylor's division in the fighting along

Bayou Teche Bayou Teche ( Louisiana French: ''Bayou Têche'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 waterway of great cultural significance in south central Louisiana in ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

. He was promoted to brigadier general, May 20, 1863. Warner, Ezra J.br>''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders''
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. .Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher
''Civil War High Commands''
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . p. 265. Wright, Marcus J. United States War Department, The Military Secretary's Office
''Memorandum relative to the general officers appointed by the President in the armies of the Confederate States--1861-1865''
(1908) (Compiled from official records). Caption shows 1905 but printing date is February 11, 1908. Retrieved April 12, 2014. p. 26. In June, he captured a Union garrison at Brashear City, but failed to seize Fort Butler on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

. Green's cavalry routed advancing Union troops under Godfrey Weitzel and Cuvier Grover at Koch's (Cox's) Plantation on July 13. In September, the First Cavalry Brigade captured another Union detachment at Stirling's Plantation. A similar success followed in November at the Battle of Bayou Bourbeux. In four victories, Green's men inflicted about 3,000 casualties and suffered only 600 losses. Green was subsequently assigned command of the cavalry division of the Trans-Mississippi Department.

Red River Campaign

During the Red River Campaign, Green led his division of cavalry from Texas to reinforce Taylor in Louisiana to stop the advance of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks toward Shreveport. Green participated in the Battle of Mansfield and the Battle of Pleasant Hill. A few days later, on April 12, 1864, Green was mortally wounded by a shell from a Federal

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

while leading an attack on the gunboats patrolling the Red River at Blair’s Landing. He soon died on Blair's Plantation. Upon his death, Union Admiral

paid tribute to the fallen Confederate cavalryman in saying that Green was "one in whom the rebels place more confidence than anyone else. He led his men to the very edge of the bank, they shouting and yelling like madmen—losing General Green had paralyzed them; he was worth 5,000 men to them." He is buried in the family plot at Oakwood Cemetery in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. Historian

John D. Winters John David Winters (December 23, 1916 – December 9, 1997)John D. Winters obituary, '' Ruston Daily Leader'', December 10, 1997 was an American historian at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. He is known for his monograph ''T ...

in ''The Civil War in Louisiana'' (1963) quotes a Texas soldier who fought under Green: "He was a man who, when out of whiskey, was a mild mannered gentleman, but when in good supply of old burst-head was all fight." Winters continues: "Well fortified with Louisiana rum, Green with a yell told

is men In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject (grammar), subject of a sentence (linguistics), sentence to a subject complement, such as the word '' ...

that he was going to show them how to fight. The charge against the gunboats was made on horseback. Green was killed well in advance, a cannon shot taking off the top of his head. ... Drunk or sober, foolish or not in waging the attack, Green was a valuable man, and General Taylor lamented him."Winters, p. 359

Memorials

* Tom Green Street in Brenham, Texas is named for Green * Tom Green County, Texas (1875) is named for Green * USS ''Tom Green County'' (1953–1972) was indirectly named for Green.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Thomas American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Confederate States Army brigadier generals 1814 births 1864 deaths Confederate States of America military personnel killed in the American Civil War Burials at Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, Texas) Republic of Texas politicians 1st Congress of the Republic of Texas People from Amelia County, Virginia People from Buckingham County, Virginia People of Texas in the American Civil War University of Tennessee alumni Tom Green County, Texas