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Name: Thomas H. Watkins
Birth Place: Near Gilmore's Mill Rockbridge Co.
Date of Birth: 8/31/1840
Physical Description:
Prewar Life:1860 Census, Manager of Railroad, age 21, Glenwood District, Rockbridge Co.; ironmaster, Glenwood Furnace
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Date of Enlistment: 8/1/1861
Place of Enlistment: Staunton
Age at Enlistment:
Occupation at Enlistment:Farmer
Conscript or Substitute:
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Rank: Capt.
Company: E
Transfer Company:
Regiment: 52nd Va. Inf.
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Promotions: Reelected 05-01-1862; to Maj. 10-24-1863; to Lt. Col. 03-02-1864
Transfers and Other Service:
Muster Sheet: Present 11-00-1861 to 04-00-1862; present 05-01-1862 to 08-00-1862; commanding regt. 2nd Manassas, Chantilly, Harpers Ferry, Sharpsburg; present 11-00-1862, 12-00-1862; absent on leave 01-00-1863, 02-00-1863; present 03-00-1863 to 10-00-1863; present 11-00-1863 to 02-00-1864; present Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse; commanding regt. 05-12-1864 after Col. Skinner WIA; commanding regt. Bethesda Church 05-30-1864 until KIA
Captured:
Missing In Action:
Prison:
AWOL:
Deserted:
Discharge:
Paroled: //
Notes: In 1861 he resigned his position as manager of Glenwood Furnace and enlisted in the company being formed in the neighborhood. When the company was organized he was chosen Captain by an almost unanimous vote. He initially declined to accept the position, professing lack of military training and experience. When the company voted again he received every vote but one, doubtlessly his own. He immediately devoted himself to the study of military tactics and the duties of a soldier and an officer and soon became the most accomplished in the command. Col. Baldwin declared him 'second to no Captain in the Confederate Army.' He possessed an intellect of unusual brightness and owned an energy which was untiring and a sense of duty and devotion to Virginia. Having a symmetrical, well knit, graceful figure, athletic and manly in all his movements. His features regular and striking. 'As an officer he won the devotion, affection and confidence of his men by his uniform courtesy and considerable kindness, his care for their wants, their comfort and welfare and yet required from them the same faithful obedience of orders, and conscientious discharge of duty, which he rendered to his superiour officers. He shared their hardships and privations, and in every battle he commanded from the front and led the charge.' [source?] One of the most gallant and promising officers and noblest men in the Confederate army.
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Died of Disease:
Killed in Action:
Wounded in Action: McDowell; Gaines Mill 06-27-1862 - 5/8/1862
Hospital:
Died of Wounds:
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Personal Life: Brother of Ovid L. Abney
Family Number from 1860 census: (Click on number to see the 1860 census record)
Dwelling Number from 1860 census: (Click on number to see the 1860 census record)
Postwar Life:
obituary states he was a sharpshooter
Death Place: Bethesda Church age 24
Date of Death: 5/30/1864
Cause of Death:
Burial Place: Bethesda Church, on the field, but moved under large walnut tree at the Stark house, still there 1912
Epitaph:
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