{{short description|American politician (1826–1895)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Thomas Alexander Harris | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date text|1826}} | birth_place = Warren County, Virginia, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1895|4|9|1826||}} | death_place = Pewee Valley, Kentucky, U.S. | resting_place = Cave Hill Cemetery<br />Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. | nickname = | office = Member of the<br />Kentucky House of Representatives<br />from Oldham and Trimble Counties | term_start = August 3, 1885 | term_end = August 1, 1887 | predecessor = W. F. Peak | successor = W. O. Coleman | office2 = Member of the First Confederate Congress | term_start2 = 1861 | term_end2 = 1864 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | office3 = Member of the Missouri House of Representatives | term_start3 = 1860 | term_end3 = 1861 | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | relations = | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | allegiance = {{flagicon|United States|1848}} United States of America<br>{{flagicon|Confederate States|1861}} Confederate States of America | branch = {{army|United States}}<br>{{flagicon|Missouri}} Missouri State Guard (Confederate) | service_years = 1848 (USA)<br/ >1861 | rank = 35px Second Lieutenant (USA)<br> Brigadier General (Missouri militia, CSA) | service_number = | unit = | commands = | battles = {{tree list}} * American Civil War ** First Battle of Lexington {{tree list/end}} | awards = | other_work = Life insurance sales<br>Newspaperman<br>Assistant Secretary of State of Kentucky | signature = }} }}
'''Thomas Alexander Harris''' (1826 – April 9, 1895) was a United States Army officer at the end of the Mexican–American War and a Missouri State Guard (Confederate) brigadier general during the early months of the American Civil War (Civil War). He then became a prominent Confederate politician, serving in the First Confederate Congress from 1861 to 1864. Among other occupations, he was a Missouri State Representative before the Civil War and a Kentucky State Representative in 1885–1886.
==Early life== Thomas A. Harris was born in Warren County, Virginia, in 1826. His family moved to Missouri when Harris was a young boy. An orphan, he fought in the 1838 Mormon War at the age of 12. Harris attended the United States Military Academy in 1843–1845 but did not graduate.
==Career== Harris was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 12th U.S. Infantry Regiment<ref>The current 12th Infantry Regiment (United States) traces its lineage to a Civil War regiment, not to this Mexican-American War regiment.</ref> in 1848 but peace was declared to end the Mexican–American War on the day he reported for duty. He participated in two filibustering expeditions in the early 1850s. He then returned to Hannibal, Missouri, where he became attorney for a railroad, city attorney and a newspaper editor. He was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1860 and became chairman of the military committee.
As a brigadier general in the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard, he fought at the First Battle of Lexington, Missouri. Between late 1861 and 1864, he represented Missouri in the First Confederate Congress. He then smuggled equipment for the Confederate States Army from Europe through the Union blockade of the Confederacy.
After the Civil War, Harris worked for the Life Insurance Association of America in St. Louis, Missouri, and opened an office in Texas in 1870. Then he worked for a New Orleans, Louisiana, newspaper. After this, he moved to Kentucky, where his friendship with the governor gained him an appointment as assistant secretary of state. Harris won a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives from Oldham County in 1885–1886.
==Personal life== Thomas Alexander Harris died on April 9, 1895, in Pewee Valley, Kentucky, near Louisville. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.<ref>Allardice, Bruce S. ''Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register''. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-8262-1809-4}}. pp. 121–122.</ref><ref>Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}. pp. 282–283.</ref>
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * Allardice, Bruce S. ''Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register''. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-8262-1809-4}}. * Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}.
==External links== * [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/harris8.html The Political Graveyard]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Thomas Alexander}} Category:1826 births Category:1895 deaths Category:United States Army officers Category:Confederate militia generals Category:Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Missouri Category:People of Missouri in the American Civil War Category:Members of the Missouri House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives Category:Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery Category:People from Warren County, Virginia Category:People from Pewee Valley, Kentucky Category:19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly Category:19th-century members of the Missouri General Assembly Category:United States Military Academy alumni