| |||
Thomas Wellington Blair (1841-1864) was born in Virginia, moved to Texas and died in Georgia.
The son of John Francis Blair (1804-1860) and Christian "Kitty" Keen Blair (1810-1861), Thomas W. Blair was born in Whitmell, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, in 1841. He was the sixth child (fourth son) of 10 children.
The Blairs moved from Virginia to Grayson County, Texas, in 1858 as part of an extended family of about 60 members. (Other members of the immigrant party were the families of William David "Billie" Williams, a circuit-riding Methodist minister who settled in Ladonia; Benjamin Franklin Williams; and Peter H. Turner, a carpenter.) John Blair bought and was farming 1200 acres northwest of Bells in Grayson County.
Tom Blair's father and one of his older brothers died of typhoid in October, 1860. His mother and a brother-in-law died in August, 1861, and Tom enlisted in the Texas 9th (Maxey's) Infantry Regiment less than a month later.
Four of Tom Blair's brothers would also serve in the Confederacy. James Keen Blair (1830-1911) enlisted on July 6, 1861, in the Fourth Brigade, Mounted Volunteers, in Bonham, Texas. (He would later become a Fannin County District Court judge.) George Whitfield Blair (1844-1932) served in the Texas 11th Field Artillery Battery. Elisha Edgar Blair (1849-1895) was a mascot and waterboy in the same unit. Wesley Witcher Blair (1844-1867) rode with Shecoe's Chickasaw Mounted Volunteers.
After his enlistment in Paris, Texas, in August, 1861, Tom Blair stayed with the regiment through the Corinth, Kentucky, Vicksburg, Meridian and Atlanta Campaigns. He fought at Shiloh, Richmond, Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain and Peach Tree Creek.
In early October, 1864, still stinging from the fall of Atlanta, General John Bell Hood ordered 2,000 Confederates, including the Texas 9th Infantry, to attack Union supply lines to the northeast. By the time Confederate troops arrived to seize the depot at Alatoona Pass, Georgia, Union soldiers had dug entrenchments and built two sets of breastworks surrounding an old star fort.
The Confederates attacked on October 5, 1864, finally overrunning the entrenchments and taking the breastworks. The infantrymen finally faltered and failed, however, losing one man in three to Union fire from the fort. The men of the Texas 9th Infantry Regiment withdrew.
Thomas Wellington Blair died at Allatoona Pass, Georgia. He was 24 years old.
T. W. Blair is listed in a draft copy of General Samuel Bell Maxey, C.S.A. a Military Biography, by Louise Horton, Granger, TX, 1984, p. 193.
Confederate Service Record
Blair, T. W. (19), Pvt., Co. C, enlisted at Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas on 4 Oct 1861
wounded, Shiloh, 6 Apr 1862
on furlough to 5 May 1862, by order of Gen. Anderson
present as 2nd Sgt., July-October, 1862
reduced from Sgt., 22 Jan 1863
present, March-October, 1863
present on roll of 5 May 1864
Killed at Allatoona, GA, 5 Oct 1864
From Reminiscences of The Boys in Gray, 1861-1865, by Mary Yeary, (Dayton, Ohio: Morningside, 1986), p. 445-446: In the text of JOHN E. LOGSDON, Gainesville, Texas: "... Quite a number of the boys who were members of Company C died in the hospital during the war. The following is a list of the names of those killed in battle: ... J. Griffin, J. Childres and Tom Black (sic) at Alltoona Station... These were all splendid young men."
©Ron Brothers and Rusty Williams, All Rights Reserved, 1999.
July 14, 1999
Return to 9th Texas Infantry Biographies
