Col. John P. Thomas, CSA
Class of 1851
Hometown: Charleston, SC
- 1st Honor Graduate of the class of 1851.
- Superintendent of the Arsenal Academy, Columbia, SC 1861-1865.
- During the Civil War, Thomas remained as Superintendent of the Arsenal Academy. However, at the start of the war, he supervised batteries on Morris Island that took part in the bombardment of Ft. Sumter. He later raised a battalion that saw brief service in defense of Charleston's coast, and was elected colonel of a local militia unit that provided support to workshops and arsenals in Columbia.
- As Superintendent of the Arsenal, Thomas commanded the Arsenal Corps of Cadets during the Civil War. The Arsenal Corps of Cadets and The Citadel Corp of Cadets, were designated the Battalion of State Cadets, and made part of the State's military organization in January 1861.
- Thomas was in command of the Arsenal Corps of Cadets during the Battle of Tulifinny Creek, December 7-9, 1864, during which the entire Battalion of State Cadets and a small number of state militia successfully defended a critical railroad trestle of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad, and repulsed a much larger Union force.
- Admitted to the practice of law in SC 1871.
- Founder and Superintendent of Carolina Military Institute, Charlotte, NC 1873-1881.
- Thomas was among those prominent alumni who successfully helped secure the return of The Citadel to South Carolina in 1879, and its reopening as a military college in 1882.
- Appointed 6th Superintendent of The Citadel upon its reopening as a military college, 1882-1885.
- Appointed Citadel Board of Visitors 1892.
- A prodigious writer, during the 1870s, Thomas was Editor of The Phoenix newspaper, and founder and owner of The South Carolinian newspaper.
- Elected to the SC General Assembly 1886-1887.
- Appointed South Carolina's State Historian in 1887.
- Thomas authored several historical works. His most significant work, "The History of the South Carolina Military Academy," published in 1893, provides in rich detail the most authoritative account of The Citadel's first fifty years, including its founding in 1842, the participation of its officers and corps of cadets in the Civil War, and the successful effort of its alumni to reopen The Citadel as a military college in 1882.