MERIWETHER JEFF THOMPSON SWAMP FOX OF THE

CONFEDERACYSeptember 2012

BACKGROUND

Meriwether Jeff Thompson (January 22, 1826 – September 5, 1876) was a brigadier general in the Missouri State Guard during the American Civil War.

He served the Confederate Army as a cavalry commander, and had the unusual distinction of having a ship in the Confederate Navy named for him.

EARLY LIFE

Meriwether Jeff Thompson was born at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, now West Virginia[1] into a family with a strong military tradition on both sides.

He moved to Liberty, Missouri in 1847 and St. Joseph the following year, beginning as a store clerk before taking up surveying and serving as the city engineer.

He later supervised the construction of the western branch of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad.

Thompson served as St. Joseph mayor from 1857–1860.

He presided over the ceremony inaugurating the first ride of the Pony Express on April 3, 1860.

THOMPSON’S SWAMP RATS

Thompson was a colonel in the Missouri state militia at the outbreak of the Civil War. In late July 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of the First Division, Missouri State Guard.

He commanded the First Military District of Missouri, which covered the swampy southeastern quarter of the state from St. Louis to the Mississippi River.

Thompson's battalion soon became known as the "Swamp Rats" for their exploits. He gained renown as the "Swamp Fox of the Confederacy."

BATTLE OF FREDERICKTOWN

When Union General John C. Fremont issued an emancipation proclamation purporting to free the slaves in Missouri, Thompson declared a counter-proclamation and his force of 3,000 soldiers began raiding Union positions near the border in October.

On October 15, 1861, Thompson led a cavalry attack on the Iron Mountain Railroad bridge over the Big River near Blackwell in Jefferson County.

After successfully burning the bridge, Thompson retreated to join his infantry in Fredericktown.

PRISONER OF WAR

After briefly commanding rams in the Confederate river fleet in 1862, Thompson was reassigned to the Trans-Mississippi region. There, he engaged in a number of battles before returning to Arkansas in 1863 to accompany Gen. John S. Marmaduke on his raid into Missouri.

Thompson was captured in August in Arkansas, and spent time in St. Louis' Gratiot Street prison, as well as at the Fort Delaware and Johnson's Island prisoner-of-war camps.

Eventually he was exchanged in 1864 for a Union general.

IRON BRIGADE

Later that year, Thompson participated in Major General Sterling Price's Missouri expedition, taking command of "Jo" Shelby's famed "Iron Brigade" when Shelby became division commander.

He served competently in this role.

SURRENDER

In March 1865, Thompson was appointed commander of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas.

Although Thompson frequently petitioned for the Confederate rank of brigadier general it was never granted. His brigadier rank came from his Missouri State Guard service.

He surrendered his troops on May 11, 1865, in Jacksonport, Arkansas

SURRENDER AT JACKSONPORT

CSS GENERAL M. JEFF THOMPSON

•A ship in the Confederate Navy, the CSS General M. Jeff Thompson, was named in Thompson's honor. •The side-wheel river steamer was converted at New Orleans to a "cottonclad" ram in early 1862. •It was commissioned in April and sent up the Mississippi River to join the River Defense Fleet in Tennessee waters, seeing its first action in the Battle of Plum Point Bend.

POSTBELLUM

After the war, Thompson moved to New Orleans, where he returned to civil engineering.

He designed a program for improving the Louisiana swamps, a job that eventually destroyed his health.

He returned to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1876 where he succumbed to tuberculosis.