William S. Thompson, captain of a Pennsylvania militia company, was mustered into service on 29 May 1861. He left his hometown of Bristol, Pennsylvania to join the 3rd Pennsylvania Reserve (32nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry) at Camp Washington (the regiment was organized there 21 June 1861), where he was given the rank of lieutenant colonel. Thompson left the army in July of 1862 and became chief engineer on the steamship "Suwanee" on 13 February 1863. In October of that year, he joined the United States Navy, serving as an engineer aboard the ironclad "Atlanta" until his death on 6 April 1865. According to a pension claim later filed on behalf of his children, Thompson was killed on the banks of the James River, when a Confederate torpedo he was examining exploded. (This could account for the singe marks found on 01838.04, his 1865 diary. The last entry in that diary is dated the day before his death.) Because he was "on liberty" at the time, Thompson's children were not entitled to his pension.
- GLC#
- GLC01838
- Type
- Header Record
- Date
- 1862-1865
- Author/Creator
- Thompson, W. S., fl. 1862-1865
- Title
- [Four Civil War pocket diaries] [decimalized .01-.04]
- Place Written
- Various Places
- Pagination
- 4 v.
- Primary time period
- Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
- Sub-Era
- The American Civil War
Showing 4 of 4 records
