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97…….(Born Mas.)
Thomas Childs
(Ap’d Mas.)
Military
History. --- Cadet at the Military Academy, Apr. 6, 1813, to Mar. 11, 1814,
when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to
Third Lieut., 1st
Artillery, Mar. 11, 1814.
Served: in the
War of 1812-15 with Great Britain, in the Campaign of 1814, on the Niagara
Frontier, being engaged in the Capture of Ft. Erie,
(Second Lieut., 1st
Artillery, Mary 1, 1814)
(Transferred to Corps of
Artillery, May 12, 1814)
U. C., July 3, 1814, --
Battle of Niagara, July 25, 1814, -- and Defense of Ft. Erie, U. C., from
its Bombardment and Assault by the enemy, Aug. 13-15, 1814, until the Siege
was raised by the successful Sortie from it, Sep. 17, 1814; in garrison at
Ft. Niagara, N. Y., 1815-16, -- New
(First Lieut., Corps of
Artillery, Apr. 20, 1818)
York harbor, 1816-18, --
Ft. Washington, Md., 1818-19, -- and New York harbor, 1819-20; on Commissary
duty, 1820-21; in garrison at Ft.
(First Lieut., 3d
Artillery, June 1, 1821)
(Captain, 3d Artillery,
Oct. 1, 1826)
Washington, Md., 1821-25,
1825-27, -- and at Ft. Sullivan, Me., 1827-31, 1832-36; in the Florida War,
1836-37, being engaged against the Seminole Indians in the Attack on Ft.
Drane, Fla., Aug. 21, 1836; on
(Bvt. Major, Aug. 21,
1836, for Planning the Attack on the
Indians at Ft. Drane,
Fla., and Good Conduct in that Affair)
Recruiting service, 1837,
1838; in the Florida War, 1838-40, 1840-42; in
(Bvt. Lieut.-Colonel, Feb.
1, 1841, for Gallant Conduct and Repeated Successes in the
War Against the Florida
Indians, Between Nov., 1840, and Mar., 1842)
Garrison at Ft. Johnston,
N.C., 1842-44, -- Ft. Moultrie, S.C., 1844, -- and Ft. Johnston, N.C.,
1844-45; in Military Occupation of Texas, 1845-46; as Colonel of Artillery
Battalion of “Army of Occupation,” Oct. 3, 1845, to Feb. 16, 1847; 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, -- Battle of Monterey,
Sep. 21-23, 1846, -- Siege of
(Bvt. Colonel, May 9,
1846, for Gallant Conduct in the
Battles of Palo Alto and
Resaca-de-la-Palma)
Vera Cruz, Mar. 9-29,
1847, -- Battle of Cerro Gordo, Apr. 17-18, 1847, --
(Major, 1st
Artillery, Feb. 16, 1847)
Skirmish of La Hoya, June
20, 1847, -- Defnese of Puebla, Sep. 13-Oct. 12,
(Bvt. Brig.-General, Oct.
12, 1847, for Gallant and Meritorious
Conduct in the Defense of
Puebla, Mex.)
1847, where he commanded,
-- Military Governor of Jalapa, Apr.-June, 1847, and of Puebla, Sep.-Oct.
1847; in garrison, at Ft. McHenry, Md., 1848-51; and in command of Military
Operations in East Florida, Feb. 11, 1852, to Oct. 8, 1853.
Died, Oct. 8, 1853, at Ft.
Brooke, Fla.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Bvt.
Brigadier-General Thomas Childs was born, Mar. 16, 1796, at Pittsfield, Mas.,
of a military family, his father and grandfather having done good service in
the War of the Revolution. Upon graduating from the Military Academy he was
promoted to the Artillery, May 11, 1814, in which he rose to the rank of
Major.
Immediately upon
leaving his Alma Mater, though yet a boy, he was ordered to the Niagara
frontier and took part in the Campaign of 1814, being engaged in the Capture
of Ft. Erie, July 3, the Battle of Niagara, July 25, and Defense of Ft. Erie
from its bombardment and assault by the enemy, Aug. 13-14, until the siege
was raised by the successful Sortie of Sep. 17, 1814. For his participation
in the latter he received a captured quadrant, upon which was engraved:
“Presented to Lieut. Thomas Childs, by order of the President of the United
States, for gallant conduct in the Sortie from Ft. Erie and for spiking the
guns of the enemy’s batteries, at the age of seventeen years, Sep. 17,
1814.”
After twelve
years of routine duty, Childs, in 1836, was ordered to Florida where, except
for a short interval, he was engaged in campaigning against the Seminole
Indians till the end of the war in 1842, having participated in the Attack
on Ft. Drane, which he planned, and various difficult expeditions through
the Everglades, for which “good conduct and repeated successes” he received
the brevets of Major, Aug. 21, 1836, and of Lieut.-Colonel, Feb. 1, 1841.
Childs in 1845,
took command of the Artillery Battalion, with which he fought in the Battles
of Palo Alto and Resaca-de-la-Palma, receiving for his “gallant conduct,”
the brevet of Colonel, May 9, 1846. The Artillery Battalion was then
attached to Worth’s brigade and marched to Monterey, where Childs was
ordered to storm the fortified heights above the Bishop’s palace. The
perilous task, wit the assistance of regular infantry and Texas rangers, was
successfully accomplished before the dawn of Sep. 22, when the Artillery
Battalion flag was seen planted upon the key-point of Monterey. The next
day the brave Colonel led his column in the attack upon the streets of the
city until it reached the main plaza. Of his conduct at Monterey, General
Worth says: “The gallant Colonel Childs is safe, and covered all over with
glory.” When the regulars of Taylor’s army were ordered to join Scott,
Childs became Chief of Staff of Worth’s division t Vera Cruz, in the siege
of which he took an active part. At this time, being the Major of his
regiment, he was placed in command of it in Twigg’s division, which
performed brilliant service at Cerro Gordo, Apr. 17-18, 1847. Immediately
after, he was made Military Governor of Jalapa, and, when General Scott
moved with the army to the Valley of Mexico, was appointed Military Governor
of Puebla, a city of 60,000 inhabitants. Here Childs was obliged, with only
400 effectives, to protect the hospitals, with 1,800 sick, and defend
himself against assault from without and insurrection from within. His
little band sustained a close and continued siege of twenty-eight days by a
vastly superior force, amounting, at one time, to 8,000, under the immediate
command of General Santa Anna. The siege was successfully repelled at all
times and at every point amid showers of bullets from streets, balconies,
house-tops, and churches. In communicating Childs’s official despatch of
Oct. 13, 1847 to the War Department, General Scott says: “I inclose the
interesting report made to me from Colonel Childs, governor and commander at
Puebla, detailing the defense of that place, which, though highly arduous,
gallant, and triumphant, has not exceeded what was expected at the hands of
that excellent commander, his officers and men.” For the Defense of Puebla,
Colonel Childs was brevetted Brigadier-General, U. S. Army.
After the
Mexican War, Childs commanded at Ft. McHenry, Md., for three years, and then
took charge of the Military Operations in East Florida, where he died of
yellow fever, Oct. 8, 1853, at his headquarters, Ft. Brooke.
In publishing
the obituary order from the General-in-Chief of the U. S. Army, a Pittsfiled,
Mas., newspaper says: “But while all bear testimony to his gallantry as a
solider, his crowning distinction was the moral heroism and singular purity
of his character, his faithful and consistent religious life, which, after
all the honors of earth have passed away, remain in the hearts of his
friends to consecrate his memory, and furnish the brightest and sweetest
hope of that better life and more enduring fame which await all the faithful
soldiers and servants of God."
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