Thornton Fleming Brodhead (1822 – August 31, 1862) was a

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

brigadier general during the American Civil War.

Biography

Thornton Fleming Brodhead was born in South New Market, New Hampshire, on September 22, 1822. He graduated from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

with a degree in law. He then moved to

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

. He soon was appointed prosecuting attorney and then deputy Secretary of State. At age 27, he became a

state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

for Michigan. Brodhead enlisted in April 1847 as 1st Lieutenant and Adjutant in the 15th U.S. Infantry during the 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 cavalry regiment, at the head of which he served under Generals Banks, Fremont, and Pope. He died of wounds received at the

Second Battle of Bull Run The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia Campaign waged by Confederate ...

on August 31, 1862.

Personal life

Brodhead married Archange Macomb, a daughter of general Macomb and they had six children.

References

1822 births 1862 deaths People from Newfields, New Hampshire Harvard Law School alumni Michigan postmasters Michigan state senators American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Union Army colonels Union military personnel killed in the American Civil War 19th-century American politicians {{Michigan-politician-stub