West Virginia and Regional History Center
1549 University Ave.P.O. Box 6069
Morgantown, WV 26506-6069
Business Number: 304-293-3536
wvrhcref@westvirginia.libanswers.com
URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu
Staff of the West Virginia & Regional History Center
Administrative Information
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No special access restriction applies.
Preferred Citation
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Thomas M. Harris, Civil War Papers and Artifacts, A&M 0080, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Biographical / Historical
Thomas Mealey Harris was born on June 17, 1817, in Wood County, Virginia (now West Virginia). He practiced medicine in the state before the Civil War. In late 1861, Harris recruited for the 10th West Virginia Infantry. He was appointed its lieutenant colonel and then in May 1862, its colonel. In the summer of 1864 Harris commanded a brigade in the Army of West Virginia and in the fall he commanded a division during the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. He was brevetted brigadier general during that time and accorded full rank in March 1865. Harris's division was attached to the Army of the James and served from Petersburg, Virginia, to Appomattox in the spring of 1865. After the war Harris served on the military commission that tried the Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirators.
Gen. Harris served one term in the West Virginia legislature, was adjutant general of the state from 1869 to 1870, and was a pension agent at Wheeling, West Virginia from 1871 to 1877. He practiced medicine and produced several publications, including his account of the Lincoln conspirators' trial, Assassination of Lincoln (1892). He died in Harrisville on September 30, 1906.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Civil War - West Virginia 10th Infantry.
- Harris, T. M. (Thomas Mealey), 1817-1906
- Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
- Surratt, Mary E. (Mary Eugenia), 1820-1865
Significant Persons Associated With the Collection
- Harris, T. M. (Thomas Mealey), 1817-1906
- Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
- Surratt, Mary E. (Mary Eugenia), 1820-1865