The Life of JAMES J THOMAS
ASSISTANT DIVISION QUARTERMASTER, GENERAL HEATH’S DIVISION
MAGNOLIA HILL, LOT 46
James J. Thomas was born in Franklin County, July 19, 1831, the son of Major J. J. and Charlotte Howze Thomas and a descendant of Theophilius and Isaac Hunter. James received his education at home and in the schools of Oxford and Louisburg. During his early adulthood, James was appointed a cadet to West Point. However, before he could report to the Academy, his leg was broken in a fall and he was forced to relinquish his appointment. In 1850 he entered the mercantile business by becoming a clerk in the B. & R.H. Kingsbury dry-goods store in Oxford. Under the direction and guidance of the Kingsbury’s he became proficient in both selling and bookkeeping. In 1852, James obtained employment in Clarksville, Virginia, and was placed in charge of a large tobacco and banking business in that city. After four years in Clarksville, and another two with Willingham & Ellett merchandisers in Richmond, James came to Raleigh, joining the firm of W. H. & R.S. Tucker, the leading dry-goods merchants in North Carolina. After receiving additional training in the mercantile business with the Tucker’s, James opened his own business in Franklinton, North Carolina which he managed until the outbreak of the Civil War.
Shortly after the war began Thomas closed his business and enlisted in Company “F” of the Forty-seventh Regiment on March 4, 1862. During the organization of the North Carolina 47th Regiment with Sion H. Rogers, as Colonel, Thomas was appointed a Captain and assigned as the Regimental Quartermaster. On July 8, 1862, and on the recommendation of General Robert E. Lee, Captain Thomas was appointed Assistant Division Quartermaster with General Heth’s Division.
Captain Thomas accompanied Heth’s Division into Pennsylvania on June 30, 1863 and entered Gettysburg with a small force of infantry and cavalry under his command to act as a guard against a “sudden” attack by Northern infantry. Captain Thomas’s small band of defenders held their ground during the fierce 3-day struggle, eventually being captured on the third day of fighting near Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Later that same day, Captain Thomas, along with his troops and other Confederate soldiers, was rescued by Southern troops. For the remainder of the war, Captain Thomas served in Mechlenburg, Virginia, in the Quartermaster field.
Immediately following the war, Thomas became associated with Dr. William J. Hawkins, B.P. Williamson and Colin Hawkins in a grocery business in Baltimore, managing that firm until his return to Raleigh in 1872. Later, that same group of men James was associated with in Baltimore, along with Mr. W.G. Upchurch, formed the firm of Williamson, Upchurch & Thomas, to conduct wholesale grocery commission business in the Raleigh area. Four years later, in 1876, Thomas left the firm to establish his own business in the grocery and cotton trade known as People’s Storage and Mercantile Company. His business experience served him well as his business prospered. He became; the first president of the Raleigh Cotton and Grocery Exchange, one of the promoters and the first president of the Oak City Mill in 1875 and he organized the Raleigh Savings Bank, serving as its first president. He later organized the Raleigh and Caraleigh Cotton Mills and served as president of the Commercial and Farmers Bank.
In 1860 Captain Thomas married Victoria, a daughter of Xenophon Halbert of South Carolina. She died in 1872 and three years later he married Miss Evelyn Briggs, a daughter of Mr. Thomas H. Briggs, Sr., one of the most highly esteemed citizens of Raleigh, and after her death he married a third time, in September, 1880 to Miss Lula O. Felt of Warrenton, N.C.
At the time of James’ death in 1911, he was serving as president of the Confederate Veterans of Raleigh and Wake County. At his funeral, Honorary Pallbearers included; General Robert F. Hoke, CSA; Colonel Charles E. Johnson, CSA; Major’s Henry A. London CSA; and R.H. Bradley, CSA; Captain B.P. Williamson, CSA; and Misters, Josephus Daniels, Thomas Briggs, Sr., and John T. Pullen.