Thomas Wheatley Brown (1834-1928) was Hamilton County, Indiana's oldest surviving veteran of the Civil War. Brown served as a Private in Colonel Abel Streight's 51st Regiment Indiana Infantry, Company D, from Dec 10, 1861 to June 19, 1865. Like many other volunteers after the the war's end, he believed his service had been fulfilled and that he was justified in returning home, however the war department listed him as a deserter until Congress approved a measure on July 5, 1884, to pardon the thousands who had similarly withdrawn at the end of the war. His record was later corrected to show that he was honorably discharged under the new company commander, Captain Seth Marsh and received a war pension for the remainder of his life (Pension #1604515). Brown's company served in major battles of the Civil War in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, and of special note, an officer from his same company, Marion T. Anderson of Kokomo, Indiana, Captain of Company D, was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroic action during the Battle of Nashville on Dec 16, 1864.
Personal life
Thomas Brown was born on March 3, 1834, one of twelve children of Evan and Nancy (Clark) Brown of Mercer Co, KY. He married Nancy Ellen Willham in Johnson Co, Indiana in 1864, and together they had 11 children. After the war, Brown worked as a farmer and a grocer. He died January 28, 1928, in Atlanta, Hamilton Co, Indiana. He is buried in Tipton, Indiana.
Greater accounts of Thomas Brown's regiment can be reviewed in the History of the 51st Regiment Indiana Infantry, by Wm. R. Hartpence, Sergeant Major, 1894, at http://www.archive.org/details/veteranvolinf00hartrich.
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