Thomas Green

Thomas Green (June 8, 1814 – April 12, 1864) was an American soldier and lawyer, who took part in the Texan Revolution of 1835–36, serving under Sam Houston, who rewarded him with a land grant. Green was clerk of the Texas Supreme Court until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he became a Confederate cavalry leader. After winning several victories, including the Battle of Valverde and the recapture of Galveston, he was promoted brigadier and assigned command of the cavalry division of the Trans-Mississippi Department. In the Red River Campaign, he was mortally wounded while charging a fleet of Federal gunboats. The Union naval commander David Dixon Porter paid tribute to Green as a serious loss to the Confederacy. Early life and career Green was born in Buckingham County in Virginia to Nathan and Mary (Field) Green. The family moved to Tennessee in 1817. He attended Jackson College and Cumberland College (Princeton, Kentucky) before he received a degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1834. He then studied law with his father, who was a judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court. When the Texas Revolution began, Green left Tennessee to join the rebel volunteers. He arrived in Nacogdoches in December 1835, and enlisted in Isaac N. Moreland's company on January 14, 1836. During the April 21 Battle of San Jacinto, Green helped operate the famed "Twin Sisters" cannons, the only artillery present in Sam Houston's army. A few days after the decisive victory, Houston rewarded Green with a commission as a lieutenant. In early May, he was promoted to major and assigned as the aide-de-camp to General Thomas J. Rusk. With hostilities over, Green resigned on May 30 and returned to Tennessee to resume studying law. In 1837, the legislature of the new Republic of Texas granted large tracts of land to leading veterans of the Revolution, including Green. After relocating to Fayette County, Green became a county surveyor at La Grange. That same year, fellow San Jacinto veteran William W. Gant nominated Green for the position of engrossing clerk for the Texas House of Representatives. He was subsequently elected and held the office until 1839 when he represented Fayette County in the House of Representatives in the Fourth Texas Congress. After a single term, he chose not to run again and resumed his clerkship. During the Sixth and Eighth Texas Congresses, he served as secretary of the Senate.