USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 42
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The daring enterprise, courage and self-reliance, the respect for the rights of the poor, and the reverence for law, the love of freedom, and the independent thought which are here revealed, are the character- istics of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish which have made so lasting an impress upon our republican government. These men and their descendants, it is perhaps not too much to say, had more to do than any other equal number of men, not only in moulding, but in sus- taining both in the field and in the cabinet, and making successful, the American Republic.
It is not surprising that Alexander Thomson's "distaste for the lairds" should drive the sturdy Cameronian farmer from Scotland to America, and that the first man with whom he found himself in con- ference as to his future plans and prospects was Dr. John Wither- spoon, at Princeton, the Presbyterian preacher, who a few years after- wards enrolled his name among the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. The letter from which we have quoted discloses a character which would be in full sympathy with one who, at that time, was helping to give form and direction to the growing sentiment in favour of freedom and self government.
They were both believers in that creed of which, in tracing its . political influence, Bancroft has so happily said, that " it owned no king. but the King of Heaven; no aristocracy but of the redeemed; no bondage but the hopeless, infinite, and eternal bondage of sin :" that it "invoked intelligence against Satan, the great enemy of the human
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race, and nourished its college with corn and strings of wampum, and in every village built the free school."
Of the men who professed this creed, he further said, "they went forth in confidence that men who were kindling with the same exalted instincts would listen to their voice, and be effectively called into the . brunt of battle by their side ; and standing serenely amidst the crum- bling fabrics of centuries of superstition, they had faith in one another." With these sentiments animating him, it was but natural that his sons should be found, as several of them were, in the American army. during the Revolutionary War.
It was from such an ancestry that Alexander Thomson, the subject of our sketch, descended. Ilis father, Archibald Thomson, was one of the sons of the Scotch emigrant who served as soldiers in the Revo- lution.
Alexander, the subject of our sketch, was born in Franklin county. Pa., January 12, 1788. His parents both died young, leaving a family of five children, two sons and three daughters. At the age of fifteen Alexander was apprenticed to his uncle, Andrew Thomson, to learn the trade of a sickle maker. No statement that we could make would more strikingly suggest the rapid progress, and revolution in the industries of the Cumberland valley, than this one. Notwithstanding the immense crops which are annually gathered from its fertile fields, it is doubtful whether one sickle maker could find remunerative employment to-day, were he to have a monopoly of the business from the Susquehanna to the Tennessee.
While acquiring his trade he manifested his love of study, and by the time he was through his apprenticeship he had acquired a know- ledge of Latin, and became well versed in the English poets. Milton was his favourite, and a retentive memory enabled him in his later years frequently to gratify his friends by reciting many of the most admired. passages.
Among the Presbyterian ministers who, at that early day, made occasional visits into that part of the Cumberland valley, was the Rev. Mr. Grier, the father of the late Justice Grier, of the Supreme Court of the United States. The intelligence and studious habits of the young sickle maker attracted the attention of Mr. Grier, and he invited him to his home at Northumberland, where it was the expectation that he would pursue his own studies, and, while so engaged, instruct the- sons of his friend in Greck and Latin. After three years spent in this occupation, his health broke down, and he went to Bedford to escape,
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as he believed, the injurious influences of the climate of the Susque- hanna upon his system.
At Bedford he took charge of the academy, and studied law with Judge Riddle. He was admitted to the bar, and soon attained the confidence of the public both as a man and a lawyer. He was elected to the House of Representatives in the State Legislature, and after- wards represented the district in Congress, from 1824 to 1826. To the discharge of his public duties he brought the same untiring industry and scrupulous fidelity that were his characteristics through life.
He took a very warm interest in the welfare of the District of Columbia during his term in Congress, and so zealously and success- fully did he labour in that behalf that his services were gratefully recognized by the citizens of Washington, who had his portrait painted and placed in the City Hall. About the end of his Congressional career he was appointed by the Governor to a Judgeship in the city of Lancaster. He occupied that position for a very brief time before "he was appointed for life, President Judge of the Judicial District com- " posed of the counties of Somerset, Bedford and Franklin, after which he removed from Bedford to Chambersburg. This position he filled until his teri expired under the limited tenure of the amended Consti- tution of 1838. He was succeeded in this office by the Hon. Jeremiah . S. Black, before whom he at once entered upon a laborious and suc- cessful practice in the district, attending the courts of all the counties and being engaged in many important cases. Among the first cases he tried before Judge Black, after his own retirement from the bench, was one which excited considerable interest in Franklin county-the case of Wilson against Bigger, reported in 7 Watts & Sergeant. involving the title to valuable lands near St. Thomas, and, as a question of law, the conclusiveness of decrees of the Orphans' Court. He was associated in this case with Hon. George Chambers, and opposed by Messrs. Bard and McLanahan. In cases of like importance through- "out the district, and as the adversary or colleague of such lawyers as those already named, Thomas J. McCulloh, Frederick Smith, John F. Denny and Joseph Chambers, in Franklin county, James M. Russell, William Lyon, and Alexander King, in Bedford county, Joshua F. Cox and others, in Somerset county, he continued in the practice of his profession until his death, which occurred suddenly from paralysis, August 2d, 18.18.
In addition to his professional labours in the courts, he also filled the Professorship in the Law School connected with Marshall College. In
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this capacity he had in his office a number of students, and in his attention to them he was most diligent. His classes were not large enough for formal lectures, but when not absent, attending the courts in the district, so devoted was he to his students that at least three times in each week, he had them assemble, and often for two hours in the early morning he would examine them, and give them the most valuable running commentaries upon the various branches of element- ary law. The interest he took in his students and the paternal care he manifested for them, endeared him to them all, and it has been a source of gratification to his family that his memory has ever been cherished with feelings of gratitude as well as of affection by the numerous gentlemen who studied under his care. Among these were his nephew, Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, late United States Senator, and now Governor of Indiana, Hon. John Scott, late United States Senator from Pennsylvania, and Hon. T. B. Kennedy, a prominent member of the Franklin county bar, and President of the Cumberland Valley Railroad Company.
Judge Thomson was not only a busy lawyer, but he took an active part in everything pertaining to the interests of the community in which he lived. He was an active member and a ruling elder in the Presby- terian Church of Chambersburg, a director of the bank, a trustee of the academy, and in all his relations he maintained an unsullied character . and enjoyed the respect of his associates. As a judge he was labo- rious and conscientious in the examination of every case which came before him ; he maintained the dignity of his high office, and his decisions were the result of a soun 1 judgment guided by the highest learning of his profession. As a lawyer, he was esteemed, not only for his industry and courtesy, but for his legal and literary attainments. He commanded the confidence of the profession and the community by his moral and religious worth. The benevolence of his heart did not stop in wishing well to his fellows, and when the unfortunate claimed his aid his beneficence was limited only by his ability to do good and kind acts. We remember well how an unfortunate man who applied to him in his office for assistance feelingly and gratefully responded as he left the door, and how the Judge, looking after him, said, " non ignara mali miseris succurrere disto." No one present ever forgot the incident or the quotation.
It was his delight to gather the young about him, and he was often seen the centre of a circle of the delighted students from the Female Seminary of Chambersburg, who had learned from his genial nature
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and cordial hospitality that his house always furnished a welcome second only to that of their own homes.
Judge Thomson was twice married, first to Miss Abbie Blythe, of Bedford, and after her death to Miss Jane Graham, of Stoystown, Somerset county, who still lives his widow. Of the children of his first marriage there now survive him Dr. Alexander Thomson, of Mt. Savage, Md., and Mrs. John Culbertson, of Springfield, Missouri. George Thomson, Dr. William Thomson, a Professor and eminent Oculist in Philadelphia, Frank Thomson, General Manager Pennsyl- vania Railroad, and two daughters, Mrs. James B. Dayton, of Camden, N. J., and Mrs. Elizabeth Lesley, widow of James Lesley, late Chief Clerk of the War Department, are children of his second marriage. , Of these descendants four sons and two sons-in-law were actively engaged in the military service during the recent struggle for the . preservation of the Government. It may here be added, that the degree of LL. D., was conferred on Judge Thomson, by Marshall College, in 1840.
No stronger encouragement can be given to the parents who bring up their children in the way in which they should go than the history of the numerous descendants of Alexander Thomson, of "Corkerhill." They number among them not only the subject of this sketch and his descendants and many others bearing his own name, but the Agnews, of New York, the Wylies, of Philadelphia, the Watsons, of Pittsburgh, the Hendrickses, of Indiana, many of whom have filled with honour positions alike in the high and the humbler walks of life.
WILLIAM THOMSON, M. D.
ON. ALEXANDER THOMSON, President Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District, was one of the most eminent jurists of the Commonwealth. Before his elevation to the bench, he had served with celebrity in the halls of Congress. A close student and a cultivated scholar, he was an ardent friend of literature and a generous patron of education. All the advantages that culture could confer were bestowed upon his children, and the distinguished father has been amply repaid for his paternal solicitude by the reputa- tion which his sons have added to the family name.
Of these sons, the eldest, Alexander Thomson, M. D., after being admitted to the bar of Franklin county, turned his attention to medi- cine, and for many years has been an honored and successful prac- titioner of the healing art in Maryland. During the war, he held prominent positions in the Medical Department, and discharged his duties with characteristic fidelity and modesty. The fifth and youngest son, Frank, became a practical engineer, won distinction as a railroad superintendent, and is now General Manager of the gigantic Pennsyl- vania road.
The subject of our sketch, Dr. William Thomson, was the fourth son of Judge Thomson. He was born in beautiful and historic Chambers- burg, on the 28th day of January, 1833 ; was carefully educated, under his father's watchful eye, at the Chambersburg Academy, at that period one of the most noted seats of learning in the state, conducted by a brilliant preceptor, whose fame brought pupils from far and near to receive a training, in the classics especially, not inferior to the best of our colleges.
Drawn to the profession in which he was to acquire such high rank he entered the office of the late Dr. John C. Richards, one of the most elegant gentlemen and ablest practitioners, and completed his pupil- age under his accomplished brother, Alexander Thomson, of Mount Savage, Maryland. In 1855, he graduated at Jefferson Medical College. and began his successful career near Philadelphia. When the war broke out, in 1861, he relinquished a lucrative practice, was admitted, after an examination by the proper board, to the regular army, as Assistant Surgeon, before any volunteer troops were organized, and was assigned to duty with the Army of the Potomac, with which he
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served either in the field, or at its base at Washington, until the close of the war. Shortly before the battle of Bull Run, July. 1861, he was stationed at Alexandria, in the first General Hospital organized, and during the fall and winter succeeding, he had charge of more than three hundred beds. In May, 1862. he was ordered to a General Hospital, at Portsmouth, Va., where he remained until August, when he reported to Surgeon Letterman. the far-famed Medical Director of the army of the Potomac, (at Head Quarters, Harrison Landing,) who placed him in his office as his assistant, and in this capacity, he fol- lowed the army on the staff of Mcclellan. After the hotly-waged battle of South Mountain, at which he was present, he was ordered by the Medical Director "to take charge of all the hospitals," and had the care of the wounded at Middletown, until they were gathered into temporary hospitals and finally transported to Frederick. Rejoining the Head Quarters, after the battle of Antietam, he was placed in charge of the transportation of the wounded to the hospitals at Fred- erick and Baltimore. In the " Medical Recollections of the Army of . the Potomac," by Surgeon Letterman, published by the Appletons, in . 1866, the author thus refers to the services of Dr. Thomson : "As I anticipated, the wounded, under the supervision of Dr. Thomson, who labored with so much diligence and so much effect, were attended with great care and skill, and the hospitals soon placed in excellent order. This officer may feel well repaid for all the difficulties he encountered, by the complimentary manner in which the President, when on his way to the battle field of Antietam, spoke of the condition of the hospitals, and the great care of the wounded in them." Subse- quently to the Maryland campaign, while the army was advancing into Virginia, Dr. Thomson remained on duty at Head Quarters, until he was sent to Washington to act as recorder of a Board convened to examine Medical Officers.
While serving as assistant to the Medical Director, he organized the system of "Brigade Supplies," which was issued through the order of the Commander in Chief, in the Circular of October 4th, 1862, entitled " Medical Supply Table for the Army of the Potomac for Field Service," and also the celebrated Division Hospital System. promulgated from the Medical Director's office of Army of Potomac, October 30th, 1862, by which, in the language of Surgeon Letterman, " The Department was better able than ever to discharge the duties dlevolving upon it ;" and which not only saved the lives but the limbs, too. of many a gallant sufferer, as is well known to the writer of this sketch. These reforms were so favorably received and were so productive of
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good, that they were re-issued to all the armies by the War Depart- ment.
In February, 1863, Dr. Thomson was put in charge of Douglas Hospital, Washington, so called from its establishment partly in the commodious mansion of the illustrious Senator. This institution was thoroughly equipped, and was managed with such ability that it became one of the models of the hospital system. The Medical Inspector of United States Army reported to Surgeon General Hammond that he found it in "perfect condition in every particular part," and "had no suggestions to offer." Whereupon the Surgeon General added to the report, that "such a testimonial of attention to duty is received at this office with satisfaction."
The extraordinary fitness displayed by Dr. Thomson for hospital direction, so often manifested, was not overlooked by the head of the Medical Department, and he was elevated to the responsible position of the Medical Inspector of Department of Washington, which con- tained perhaps the largest number, certainly the most completely appointed hospitals ever established for wounded soldiers. The immense system placed under the supervision of the youthful in- spector may be inferred from the fact that it contained over 23,000 beds ; and that in the year 1864 it provided for one hundred and thir- teen thousand three hundred and fifty-seven patients !
In this responsible and honourable position he remained with in- creasing credit, until the overthrow of the Rebellion and the general abandonment of the hospitals ; when he was re-assigned for a few months to " Douglas," one of the last to remain open, and then returned to his duties as Inspector, rewarded by two brevets. In 1866, he took charge of a post hospital, established for the treatment of cholera, then epidemic. In 1867, having passed a second examination, and having been promoted, he was sent to Louisiana, and served there until 186S, when he resigned to engage in a wider and fuller and more dis- tinguished field.
He has left his name enrolled among the most brilliant of the medical officers who were connected with the United States Army, as well as one of the most faithful and industrious. The splendid monu- ment of American surgery, the Army Medical Museum at the nation's capital, in papers and specimens bears witness to his professional work ; and he holds the proud distinction in its published catalogue of being its largest contributor.
After his resignation from the army he settled in Philadelphia, where he was welcomed by the eminent professional brotherhood in that
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centre of medical science. He was elected to all their societies : a Fellow of the College of Physicians, Member of Pathological Society, Academy of Natural Sciences, Biological Society, County Medical Society, Neurological Society of New York, and American Ophthalmo- logical and Otological Society, etc., and was attending physician to the Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and Church Home for Children. The position in these hospitals he resigned to devote him- self to the diseases of the eye and ear exclusively. In 1868, he was elected to the staff of the Wills' Hospital for Diseases of the Eye, and is now serving as one of its surgeons. In 1873, he was appointed Clinical Lecturer on Diseases of Eye and Ear, at Jefferson Medical College, where he gives practical instruction to the hundreds of pupils who crowd the gates of that famous temple of medical science.
Dr. Thomson stands in the front rank of Ophthalmic surgeons. He has contributed largely and given very valuable papers to the litera- ture of his specialty, and has made important additions to its science and art. Professor Gross, when preparing the late edition of his "System of Surgery," the most comprehensive medical book produced in this country, placed the section on the Diseases and Injuries of the Eye in Dr. Thomson's hands for revision, and in the preface to the work, acknowledges his indebtedness exclusively to the Doctor " for his valuable remarks upon refraction and accommodation."
In many respects Dr. Thomson is a remarkable man. A more genial and brilliant conversationalist can scarcely be found: a better thinker and harder worker we need not seek to find. Music, art, and literature furnish him with recreation, but his study is the severe science of his vocation. As a lecturer he is said to be charming, his facility of explaining is striking and his wealth of expression unsur- passed. As an operator he is quick, sure and skilful ; as an adviser, sagacious and authoritative. In general surgery he had acquired great experience, and had performed its most formidable operations : in the more delicate surgery of the eye and car he is a recognized master.
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FRANK THOMSON.
HE fifth and youngest son of Hon. Alexander Thomson, Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District, Frank Thomson, was born at Chambersburg, on July 5th, 1841. His preliminary and classical education were obtained at the Chambersburg Academy which has given culture to so many men who have since reflected credit upon this excellent school. When seventeen years of age he deter- mined to acquire a knowledge of the railway business, and for that purpose, entered the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Altoona. There he attracted the attention of Thomas A. Scott, then the General Manager of the line, who recognized his natural ability, and by valiable advice directed his practical studies towards the administration as well as to the construction and equipment of railroads and their machinery.
Upon the commencement of the Rebellion, Mr. Scott was summoned to the aid of the Government; and immediately after the memorable attack upon the soldiers in the streets of Baltimore. on the 19th of April, 1861, Mr. Thomson was detailed by Mr. Scott for duty in the military railway system, which was then just being organized-the efficiency of which contributed so essentially to the final success of "the Government in the overthrow of the Rebellion.
At Alexandria, Va., carly in 1861, previous to the battle of Bull Run, he was taking those practical lessons in restoring shops, machinery and rolling stock, disabled by the retreating southern forces: in re-building bridges, shoveling out cuts which had been filled, and con- structing the roads and telegraph lines to keep pace with the advancing troops; in transporting men, munitions, wounded, and the various material requisite for an army, with no fixed organization or schedules ; and in repairing the damages of sudden retreats or unexpected raids ; and to such training he owes the self-confidence and fertility of resource which were used with such signal results in the great emergencies elsewhere before the close of the war. He was thus employed in the Department of the Potomac until July ist, 1862, when he was sent to the west and assigned to duty with the military roads south of Nashville, which were used by Gen. Buell's army, operating on the line of Decatur, Huntsville and Stevenson. During this campaign. the military railroad played a conspicuous part, since it was requisite to accomplish the necessary concentration of troops, that the men,
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munitions of war, supplies, etc., from the various lines south of Nash- ville should be safely transported over three hundred miles of road in the enemy's country.
Having accompanied the army during its famous march through Kentucky, Mr. Thomson was directed to return to the Army of the Potomac, and took part in the railway achievements of the Antietam campaign. Afterwards he was appointed as Assistant Superintendent of the lines south of Acquia Creek, which were used for the supply of the Army of the Potomac, during the commandership of Burnside and Hooker, and the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
He was then recalled to the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad and assigned to a position which he held for one month only, being again honoured by a request from Col. Thomas A. Scott, then specially detailed by the Secretary of War, to aid him in the greatest transport- ation movement of the war-in the removal of two entire Corps, the Eleventh and Twelfth, with their full equipment of artillery, horses, wagons, camp utensils, tents, hospital supplies and baggage, from the front of the Army of the Potomac, near Washington, to the Army of the Cumberland, at Chattanooga. This difficult feat was deemed requisite for the salvation of the Army of the Cumberland, and was fully ac- complished in the short space of fourteen days.
. The battle of Rosecranz, at Chickamauga, the retiring of the army to Chattanooga, its environment by Bragg's army, the inadequacy of its line of supply, its desperate condition when General Grant was assigned to its command, are matters of history. It became necessary that the line of railroad, miserably constructed and equipped, running through a country thickly infested by guerillas, and subject to constant interruption from successful raids, should be rendered capable of transmitting re-inforcements and supplies enough to enable our army to advance. Mr. Thomson was placed in charge of these lines south of Nashville to accomplish this arduous task, in which he entirely succeeded, and thus contributed in an essential manner to those bril- liant military movements which not only relieved our own army but enabled it to assume the aggressive with such splendid results.
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