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Civil War Soldiers - Thayer
| Thayer, John M., brigadier-general,
U.S. Army, was born at Bellingham, Mass., Jan. 24, 1820. He received
an excellent preparatory education and was graduated with honor at an
early age from Brown university, studied law and was admitted to the
Massachusetts bar. When a young man he went West, stopping for a while
in Ohio, and in 1854 removed to Nebraska, shortly after the passage of
the "Kansas-Nebraska Act." He settled at Omaha, engaging in the
practice of law and taking a great interest in politics. Being
originally an old line Whig he naturally gravitated into the
Republican party, with which he afterward uniformly acted. After a
time he was appointed brigadier-general of the territory and proved to
be an excellent Indian fighter. In 1855 he was unanimously elected
major-general of the territorial forces by the legislature, continuing
to hold that position until the commencement of the Civil war. In
July, 1859, he conducted the Pawnee war, in which the entire tribe was
captured and put upon a reservation. His fighting experience proved of
great value during the Civil war. He was commissioned colonel by the
war department and took command of the first regiment that left
Nebraska for the field. For his great bravery at Fort Donelson and
Shiloh, he was subsequently appointed brigadier-general of volunteers
and was placed in command of five Iowa regiments and a part of the 3d
Ill. cavalry, with which he assisted Gen. Sherman in the operations
against Vicksburg. After the war Gen. Thayer was prominent in
organizing the state of Nebraska and was one of the two U. S. senators
first elected from the new commonwealth, his term expiring March 3,
1871. He then devoted himself to his private law business, retaining,
however, his interest in politics. In 1875 he was appointed governor
of Wyoming territory and served four years; in 1886 he was elected
governor of Nebraska, taking his seat Jan. 3, 1887. He was reelected
in 1888. Gen. Thayer died at Lincoln, Neb., on March 19, 1906. Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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