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1104……(Born
O.) William T.
H. Brooks
(Ap’d O.)………46
Military
History. --- Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1837, to July 1, 1841,
when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to
Bvt. Second Lieut., 3d
Infantry, July 1, 1841
Served: in the
Florida War, 1841-42; in garrison at Ft. Stansbury,
(Second Lieut., 3d
Infantry, Jan. 31, 1842)
Fla., 1843; on
frontier duty at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., 1843-45, -- Ft. Jesup (Camp
Wilkins), La., 1845; in Military Occupation of Texas, 1845-46; in the War
with Mexico, 1846-48, being engaged in the Battle of Palo Alto, May 8, 1846,
-- Battle of Resaca-de-la-Palma, May 9, 1846,
(First Lieut., 3d
Infantry, Sep. 21, 1846)
Battle of Monterey,
Sep. 21-23, 1846, -- Siege of Vera Cruz, Mar. 9-29,
(Bvt. Capt., Sep. 23,
1846, for Gallant and Meritorious Conduct
in the Several
Conflicts at Monterey, Mex.)
1847, --
Reconnoissance and Battle of Cerro Gordo, Apr. 17-18, 1847, -- Skirmish of
Ocalaca, Aug. 16, 1847, -- Battle of Contreras, Aug. 19-20, 1847, -- Battle
of Churubusco, Aug. 20, 1847, -- Operations before, and
(Bvt. Major, Aug. 20,
1847, for Gallant and Meritorious Conduct
in the Bat5tles of
Contreras and Churubusco, Mex.)
Capture of the City of
Mexico, Sep. 12-14, 1847, -- and as Acting Adjutant-General of Bvt.
Maj.-General Twiggs’s Division, 1847-48; as Aide-de-Camp to Bvt.
Maj.-General Twiggs, Aug. 19, 1848, to Nov. 10, 1851;
(Captain, 3d Infantry,
Nov. 10, 1851)
on frontier duty at
Ft. Union, N. M. 1852, -- Ft. Marcy, Satna Fe, N. M., 1852-54, -- Scvouting,
1854, -- Ft. Marcy, Santa Fe, N. M., 1854-56, -- Ft. Defiance, N. M.,
1857-58, -- Scouing, 1858, being engaged against the Navajo Indians in a
Skirmish at Ranchos de los Aragones, N. M., Oct. 10, 1858; on sick leave of
absence, 1858-60; on frontier duty at Ft. Clark, Tex., 1860-61; in garrison
at Ft. Hamilton, N. Y., 1861; and on sick leave of absence, 1861.
Served
during the Rebllion of the Seceding States, 1861-64; on Mustering duty in
Wisconsin, Aug.-Sep., 1861; in the Defenses of Washington,
(Brig.-General, U. S.
Volunteers, Sep. 28, 1861)
D. C., Oct. 1861,
Mar., 1862; in the Virginia Peninsular Compaign (Army of the Potomac), Mar.
to aug., 1862, being engaged in the
(Major, 18th
Infantry, Mar. 12, 1862)
Siege of Yorktown,
Apr. 5 to May 4, 1862, participating in the Skirmish of Lee’s Miolls, Apr.
16, 1862, -- Action of Golden’s Farm, June 28, 1862, -- Battle of Savage
Station, June 29, 1862, where he was wounded, -- and Battle of Glendale,
June 30, 1862; in the Maryland Campaign (Army of the Potomac), Sep. to Nov.,
1862, being engaged in the Action of Crampton Pass, Sep. 14, 1862, -- Battle
of Atietam, Sept. 17, 1862, where he was wounded, -- and March to Falmouth,
Va., Oct.-Nov., 1862 (commanding Division from Oct. 22, 1862); in the
Rappahannock Campaign, commanding Division (Army of the Potomac), Dec.,
1862, to May, 1863; and in command of the Department of the Monongahela,
June 11, 1863, to Apr. 6, 1864; in command of Division, 18th
Corps (Army of the James), Apr. 22 to June 18, and of 10th Army
Corps, June 18 to July 14, 1864, -- in Operations before Richmond, being
engaged in the Action of Swift’s Creek, May 9-10, 1864, -- Skirmishes and
Combats near Drury’s Bluff, May 12-16, 1864, -- Defense of Bermuda Hundred,
May 16-29, 1864, -- Battles of Cold Harbor, June 2-12, 1864, -- and Siege of
Petersburg, June 18, to July 14, 1864.
Resigned, July 14,
1864.
Civil History. ---
Farmer, Huntsville, Ala., 1866-70.
Died, July 19, 1870,
at Huntsville, Ala.: Aged 49.
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH.
Brig.-General William T. H. Brooks was born, Jan. 28, 1821, at New Lisbon,
Ohio, and was graduated from the Military Academy and promoted to the Third
Infantry, July 1, 1841. After four years of service in the Florida War and
on garrison duty, he joined General Taylor’s forces invading Mexico, and was
engaged in the Battles of Palo Alto, Resaca-de-la-Palma, and Monterey. Then
he was transferred to General Scott’s army, with which he took part in all
its operations, including the capture of the enemy’s capital. On every
occasion Books exhibited untiring activity and cool courage, combined with
impetuous dash, for which gallant and meritorious conduct he received the
brevet of Captain and Major. On the termination of hostilities, he was
ordered to frontier duty in New Mexico and Texas against hostile Indians.
Soon after
the beginning of the Rebellion, Brooks was appointed a Brigadier-General of
Volunteers, and took a conspicuous part with the Army of the Potomoc in the
Virginia Peninsular, Maryland, and Rappahannock campaigns, being wounded in
the Battle of Savage Station, Va., and again at Antietam, Md. In June,
1863, he took the command of the Department of the Monongahela, and the year
following of a division of the Army of the James operating against
Richmond. From his resignation, July 14, 1864, till his death, July 19,
1870, Brooks lived in retired life on a farm near Huntsville, Ala.
The
following summary of Brooks’s characteristics I gather from a letter of Dr.
Henry Coppee, who was intimate with Brooks and served with him in the
Mexican War: --
“This true
warrior was a man of striking countenance, physically powerful and
symmetrical, of dignified bearing, mentally quick and vigorous, gifted with
a truly military instinct, loving the soldier’s life, and never shirking
duty on account of labor danger, but rather courting it for both; modest as
to his own qualifications and without envy a to those of others. He was the
soul of honor, and his noble spirit rose at once against injustice and
meanness in all their forms.”
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