United States Volunteers - A.D.C. to Abraham Lincoln - NEW

Item CDV-11722

Description

United States Volunteers - A.D.C. to Abraham Lincoln
Ambrose Thompson

Ambrose Thompson
U.S. Volunteers
Captain & Assistant Quartermaster
Lieutenant Colonel and Aide-de-Camp
 
Personal friend of President Lincoln, General Grant and Commodore Farragut.
 
Aide to President Lincoln.
 
Born in Philadelphia, PA on October 20, 1836 and was the grandson of Commodore Truxton, USN.  Also, first cousin to General E. F. Beale.
 
During President Buchanan’s administration, he was sent to South American on a reconnoitering expedition, during which he crossed the isthmus seven times on foot.  On returning to this country, he came with Admiral Farragut, who commanded the Frigate Brooklyn.  Shortly after landing, the Civil War opened and he enlisted.
 
His rise in the ranks was phenomenal, serving successively under Generals Meigs, Wadsworth and Hooker.  It was during the Battle of Chancellorsville that he won additional glory by picking up General Hooker from the field under fire, tying the general’s arm, which had been shot, to his body and helping to carry him off the field.  In 1862, he was commissioned aide-de-camp to President Lincoln and continued in that position for some time.
 
Lieutenant Colonel Thompson died March 28, 1913 in San Antonio, Texas.
 
Source:  Obituary, San Antonio Light, March 30, 1913.