Thomas Jefferson Harrison

Thomas Jefferson Harrison was born June 8, 1824, in Shelby County, Kentucky. He moved to Indiana in 1830 and Kokomo in 1849. Harrison attended Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1851. In 1859, Harrison served in the Indiana House of Representatives. Less than a week after shots were fired on Fort Sumter, Harrison found himself captain of the first regiment organized in Indiana, the 6th Indiana Infantry, a three-month regiment. The 6th was sent to western Virginia; Captain Harrison’s company, along with two others, were stationed at St. Mary’s to disperse a rebel organization. Following this three-month service, Harrison became part of a regiment of sharpshooters, the 39th Indiana Infantry, and was promoted to colonel August 28, 1861. The regiment marched with Don Carlos Buell to Nashville and fought in the battles of Shiloh, Stone River, and Murfreesboro. The regiment participated in skirmishes at Middleton and Liberty Gap before engaging the Confederates at Winchester on the way to Chattanooga. In September 1863, Harrison’s regiment participated at Chickamauga and, less than a month later, was reorganized as the 8th Indiana Calvary. The 8th participated in the raid around Atlanta, the Kilpatrick raid in Georgia, the battle of Lovejoy Station, and numerous other skirmishes. Colonel Harrison was mustered out of service January 14, 1865, and brevetted brigadier general January 31, 1865. Following the Civil War, Harrison settled in Tennessee where he served as U. S. marshal, Middle District, in 1870. Other occupations in the lifetime of Thomas Harrison included teacher, lawyer, farmer, and lumber businessman. He died September 28, 1871, in Nashville, Tennessee and was buried in Crown Point Cemetery in Kokomo, Indiana.

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