{{Short description|American military officer (1793–1837)}} {{Infobox military person | name = Alexander R. Thompson | image = Lieutenant Colonel Alexander R. Thompson.png | birth_date = February 19, 1793 | death_date = December 25, 1837 (age 44) | birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | death_place = near Lake Okeechobee, Florida, U.S. | burial_place = West Point Cemetery, New York, U.S. | allegiance = {{flag|United States|1837}} | branch = {{army|United States}} | service_years = 1812 - 1837 | rank = 15px Lieutenant Colonel | unit = 6th Infantry Regiment | battles = {{tree list}} * War of 1812 ** Battle of Plattsburgh * Black Hawk War * Second Seminole War ** Battle of Lake Okeechobee {{KIA}} {{tree list/end}} | alma_mater = West Point Military Academy | spouse = Mary Nexsen }} '''Alexander Ramsey Thompson Jr.''' (1793–1837) was an American soldier. He was a graduate of the West Point Military Academy,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lossing |first=Benson John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sJAAQAAMAAJ&dq=Alexander+Ramsey+Thompson+West+Point&pg=PA69 |title=Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1902 |date=1902 |publisher=Harper & brothers |language=en}}</ref> who fought in the War of 1812, Black Hawk War, and the Second Seminole War. Thompson was killed by Seminole Indians at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee in Florida in 1837.
== Biography == Thompson was born in 1793 in New York City to Alexander Thompson Sr. and Amelia De Hart.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Knox |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y41JAAAAYAAJ&dq=Amelia+De+Hart+and+Thompson&pg=PA17 |title=Preparation for Death: A Sermon on the Occasion of the Death of Lt. Col. Alexander Ramsay Thompson, of the U. S. Army, who was Killed in Battle with the Indians at Okee-cho-bee, Florida, December 25, 1837, Delivered in the Middle Dutch Church, February 11, 1838 |date=1838 |publisher=W. Osborn |language=en}}</ref> Thompson Sr. was of English descent and Amelia De Hart was of Dutch descent. His father Thompson Sr. was an artillery officer in the Continental Army during the U.S. War of Independence, where he had served in Lamb's Artillery Regiment. After the war, Thompson Sr. was put in charge of the Army garrison on Governors Island, and he later helped build the military academy at West Point.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buBMtSM5zbMC&q=%22%20Alexander%20Thompson%22 |title=Army |date=1995 |publisher=Association of the United States Army |language=en}}</ref> Thompson Sr. died at West Point in 1809.
Thompson enrolled in the West Point Military Academy in 1810 at the age of 17. He graduated shortly before the War of 1812 began, and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the 6th Infantry Regiment. When the war started, Thompson first fought in Canada during the two failed invasions led by General James Wilkinson north of the St. Lawrence River, and afterwards he was promoted to Captain.<ref name=":1" /> He then fought at the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814. During this battle, Thompson commanded 100 soldiers and successfully defended a bridge against attacks from the British Army.<ref name=":0" /> After the War of 1812, Thompson was assigned to garrison duty at various U.S. Army forts in Louisiana, Kansas, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, and Missouri. In 1832 he was involved in the Black Hawk War and was promoted to Major afterwards.<ref>{{Cite web |last=forwhattheygave.com |date=2012-06-22 |title=Alexander R. Thompson |url=https://forwhattheygave.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/alexander-r-thompson/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=For What They Gave on Saturday Afternoon |language=en}}</ref>
In 1837, Thompson was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and was assigned to Florida to fight against the Seminole tribe who were resisting Indian Removal. Thompson and his men left Fort Jesup and embarked to Florida, where they landed at Fort Brooke on Tampa Bay. After arriving at Tampa, Thompson and his soldiers of the 6th Infantry Regiment were put under the command of Colonel Zachary Taylor, and they then marched inland to Fort Gardiner. Zachary Taylor was amassing a large force at Fort Gardiner to launch an offensive into South Florida, where most of the Seminoles were now located.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fort Gardiner, Florida – Legends of America |url=https://www.legendsofamerica.com/fort-gardiner-florida/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=www.legendsofamerica.com}}</ref> On December 19, 1837, Colonel Taylor and his troops began their march south from Fort Gardiner along the Kissimmee River, and after six days they reached Lake Okeechobee and located a large gathering of Seminole Indians led by Chief Abiaka on the northern shore of the lake. Taylor's army then moved to attack these Seminoles, which began the Battle of Lake Okeechobee on 25 December 1837.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Robison |first1=Jim |last2=Sentinel |first2=Orlando Sentinel Staff {{!}} Orlando |date=2004-01-11 |title=SOLDIERS BATTERED AT LAKE IN 1837 |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2004/01/11/soldiers-battered-at-lake-in-1837/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=Orlando Sentinel |language=en-US}}</ref>
The Seminole warriors were positioned in a dense hammock across a field of swamp from the U.S. troops. Zachary Taylor first ordered the volunteers from the Missouri Militia to charge at the Seminoles. This attack ended in disaster as the Missourians panicked after losing their commander, Richard Gentry. Taylor then ordered Thompson and the 6th Infantry Regiment to charge at the Seminole position. As Thompson and his men charged at the hammock, they were put under intense rifle fire from the Seminoles, who killed and wounded nearly all of the officers of the 6th Infantry Regiment. The Seminoles specifically targeted the U.S. military officers during the battle as part of their tactics.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fell |first=Rebecca |date=2018-01-02 |title=Battle of Okeechobee • The Seminole Tribune |url=https://seminoletribune.org/battle-okeechobee/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=The Seminole Tribune |language=en}}</ref> Thompson himself was shot twice in the chest during the infantry charge. Even though he was wounded, Thompson continued to limp forward, and said to his soldiers: "Keep steady men; charge the hammock - remember the regiment to which you belong!". Thompson was then shot a third time in the chest by the Seminoles, which killed him.<ref name=":1" /> After three hours of fighting, the Seminoles withdrew after inflicting heavy casualties on the U.S. troops, and canoed south across Lake Okeechobee. Thompson and the other dead soldiers were then temporarily buried at the battleground. Due to his army suffering heavy casualties, especially among the officers, Colonel Zachary Taylor was forced to end his offensive into South Florida, and marched his troops a long distance back to Tampa Bay.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Robison |first1=Jim |last2=Content |first2=Contributed |date=2005-12-25 |title=Colonel turns his battlefield loss into a paper victory |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2005/12/25/colonel-turns-his-battlefield-loss-into-a-paper-victory/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=Orlando Sentinel |language=en-US}}</ref> In January 1838, a group of Seminoles returned to the battleground and desecrated the graves of the dead soldiers, including Thompson's grave.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ELECTUS BACKUS, JR |url=https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~palmfronds/genealogy/2006WEBSITE/electusbackusjr.htm |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=freepages.rootsweb.com}}</ref> Thompson's remains were later reinterned at West Point.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Alexander R.}} Category:1793 births Category:1837 deaths Category:American military personnel killed in the American Indian Wars Category:Military personnel from New York City Category:Deaths by firearm in Florida Category:United States Army personnel of the Seminole Wars Category:United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 Category:United States Military Academy alumni Category:Burials at West Point Cemetery Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:American people of the Black Hawk War Category:United States Army personnel of the Indian Wars Category:American people of English descent