Background
His father, Morris Morris, and his mother, Rachel (Morris) Morris, were cousins, grandchildren respectively of two brothers, James and John Morris, emigrants from Wales to Virginia.
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Thomas Morris
Edit ProfileEducation
Three years afterwards he entered a private school conducted by Ebenezer Sharpe, and finally, July 1, 1830, the United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y.
He graduated four years later, was made a brevet second lieutenant of artillery, and was commissioned second lieutenant, Feb. 25, 1835, but resigned the following year.
Career
He is also credited with the suggestion and execution of the "state ditch, " which saved Indianapolis from recurrent floods and greatly lessened the prevalence of fever incidental to its early settlement.
From 1847 to 1852 he was chief engineer of the Terre Haute & Richmond Railroad (now part of the Pennsylvania) and of the Indianapolis & Bellefontaine, Ohio (now part of the Big Four).
Early in this period he prepared estimates and reports on the Peru & Indianapolis Railroad.
His services on these different roads suggested to Morris the idea of a union depot at Indianapolis, which he planned and built.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Gov. Oliver P. Morton [q. v. ] appointed him state quartermaster-general.
George B. McClellan, who was then in command of the department of the Ohio.
He drove the Confederate forces back from Philippi on June 3, and was well started in the task of driving them out of Western Virginia when McClellan took command in person of the campaign along the Great Kanawha.
On July 3, McClellan harshly refused reinforcements which Morris had requested (Ibid. , 208-09), and on July 14, in his report, criticized him for not pursuing the Confederates more vigorously at Laurel Hill.
A slight pursuit action at Carrick's Ford, July 13, virtually brought Morris' services to an end, since the term of enlistment of his regiments expired in July.
He was honorably mustered out July 27.
He expected another commission, but none came for more than a year.
Believing his services were not really wanted, he declined a commission as brigadier-general in September 1862 and another as junior major-general in October of that year.
As chief engineer of the Indianapolis & Cincinnati Railroad (1862 - 66), he built the Lawrenceburg-Cincinnati section.
From 1866 to 1869 he was president and chief engineer of the Indianapolis & St. Louis, and constructed the road between Terre Haute and Indianapolis.
For the three following years he was receiver of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati, & Lafayette Railroad.
[B. R. Sulgrove, Hist.
of Indianapolis and Marion County, Ind. (1884); Indianapolis Journal, Mar. 24, 1904; Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Ind. , vol.
II (1865); Catherine Merrill, The Soldier of Ind. in the War for the Union (1866), vol.
I; War of the Rebellion: Official Records (Army), 1 ser.
II; F. B. Heitman, Hist.
Reg.
and Dict.
U. S. Army (1903), vol.
I; G. W. Cullum, Biog.
Reg.
Officers and Grads.
U. S. Mil.
Acad.
(3rd ed. , 1891), vol.
I; A Biog.
Hist.
of Eminent and Self-Made Men of the State of Ind. (1880), vol.
II; Thirty-Fifth Ann.
Reunion Asso.
Grads.
U. S. Mil.
Acad. , June 14, 1904. ]
Personality
II, 673), in which move he was supported by McClellan, and the troops did good service.
Connections
Thomas was the third son among their nine children.
- married:
- John
- Daughter:
- John
- children:
- John
On Nov. 19, 1840, he married Elizabeth Rachel Irwin, daughter of John Irwin of Madison: they had five children.
On Nov. 19, 1840, he married Elizabeth Rachel Irwin, daughter of John Irwin of Madison: they had five children.
On Nov. 19, 1840, he married Elizabeth Rachel Irwin, daughter of John Irwin of Madison: they had five children.
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Born
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Died
1904 (aged 93)