Thornton F. Brodhead

{{Short description|American Civil War general}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2017}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = | name = Thornton F. Brodhead | honorific_suffix = | image = Col. Thornton F. Brodhead.jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Brodhead, {{circa}} 1860–1862 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | other_name = | nickname = | birth_date = December 5, 1820 | birth_place = [[Newfields, New Hampshire|South New Market, New Hampshire]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1862|09|02|1820|12|05}} | death_place = | burial_place = | burial_label = | burial_coordinates =  | allegiance = {{flag|United States|1861}} ([[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]) | branch = [[United States Army]]<br />[[Union Army]] | branch_label = Branch | service_years = 1847–1862 | service_years_label = | rank = [[File:Union Army brigadier general rank insignia.svg|30px]] [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier general]] | rank_label = | service_number = | unit = [[15th Infantry Regiment (United States)|15th Infantry Regiment]] | commands = [[1st Michigan Volunteer Cavalry Regiment]] | battles = {{tree list}} * [[Mexican–American War]] * [[American Civil War]] ** [[Second Battle of Bull Run]]{{DOW}} {{tree list/end}} | battles_label = | awards = | memorials = | spouse =  | children = | relations = | other_work = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | website =  | module = }} '''Thornton Fleming Brodhead''' (December 5, 1820 – September 2, 1862)<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Legislator Details - Legislators |url=https://mdoe.state.mi.us/legislators/Legislator/LegislatorDetail/1173 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=mdoe.state.mi.us}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Thornton Fleming Brodhead (1820-1862) - Find a... |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7294921/thornton-fleming-brodhead |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=www.findagrave.com |language=en}}</ref> was a [[brevet (military)|brevet]] [[brigadier general]] during the [[American Civil War]].

==Biography== Thornton Fleming Brodhead was born in [[Newfields, New Hampshire|South New Market, New Hampshire]], on December 5, 1820. He graduated from [[Harvard University|Harvard]] with a degree in law. He then moved to [[Pontiac, Michigan]]. He soon was appointed prosecuting attorney and then deputy Secretary of State. At age 29, following the 1850 election, he became a [[Michigan Senate|state senator]] for [[Michigan]].<ref name=":1" /> He served two terms. During his first term, he served on the judiciary, printing, and public lands committees.<ref>Michigan. (1850). Legislature. Senate. ''Journal of the Senate''. Lansing. Retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100730740</ref> During his second term, after being elected in 1858, he served on the state library and expiring laws committees.<ref>Michigan. (1859). Legislature. Senate. ''Journal of the Senate.'' Lansing. Retrieved from https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000679395</ref> He was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] both times.<ref name=":1" />

Brodhead enlisted in April 1847 as 1st Lieutenant and Adjutant in the 15th U.S. Infantry during the [[Mexican–American War|Mexican War]], and he was brevetted to the rank of captain on August 20, 1847. He was made a full captain on December 2, 1847, and was mustered out on July 31, 1848, when the troops were disbanded. In 1852 he was appointed postmaster of Detroit.

At the beginning of the civil war he raised the [[1st Michigan Volunteer Cavalry Regiment|1st Michigan cavalry regiment]],<ref name=":2">{{cite book |title=One of Custer's Wolverines: The Civil War Letters of Brevet Brigadier General James H. Kidd, 6th Michigan Cavalry |publisher=Kent State University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-87338-670-1 |editor-last=Wittenberg |editor-first=Eric J. |location= |page=7}}</ref> at the head of which he served under Generals [[Nathaniel P. Banks|Banks]] and [[Percival C. Pope|Pope]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kidd |first=James Harvey |title=At Custer's side: the Civil War writings of James Harvey Kidd |last2=Wittenberg |first2=Eric J. |date=2001 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-687-6 |location=Kent, Ohio}}</ref> He died on September 2, 1862 of gunshot wounds received at Lewis Ford<ref name=":2" /> during the [[Second Battle of Bull Run]] on August 30, 1862.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1862-09-04 |title=Col. Thornton Fleming Brodhead dies of his wounds, age 38. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-col-thornton-fleming-brodh/41322648/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=Evening star |pages=2}}</ref>

==Personal life== Brodhead married Archange Macomb, a daughter of general [[William H. Macomb|Macomb]] and they had six children.<ref name="elm">{{cite web |title=Thornton Fleming Brodhead |url=https://www.elmwoodhistoriccemetery.org/biographies/thornton-fleming-brodhead/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223085730/https://www.elmwoodhistoriccemetery.org/biographies/thornton-fleming-brodhead/ |archivedate=2017-12-23 |accessdate=2017-12-23 |publisher=Historic Elmwood Cemetery & Foundation}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodhead, Thornton F}} [[Category:1820 births]] [[Category:1862 deaths]] [[Category:People from Newfields, New Hampshire]] [[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]] [[Category:Michigan postmasters]] [[Category:Democratic Party Michigan state senators]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]] [[Category:Union army colonels]] [[Category:Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Michigan Legislature]] [[Category:Michigan lawyers]] [[Category:People from Pontiac, Michigan]]