Cpl. Gilbert Thompson, Co. A & Co. D, U. S. Engineer Battalion
Printer, Musician, Bridge Builder, Topographical Engineer, Postwar Founder of the National Geographic Society
Gilbert Thompson maintained a detailed journal of his wartime experiences with the U. S. Engineer Battalion. The volume is in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress and is on-line in its entirety at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss95752.01
Photograph of members, Co. A.,U.S. Engineer Battalion, taken "Before Petersburg, August 18, 1864," by Timothy O'Sullivan. Thompson is seated, second row,
fourth from the right.
Thompson wrote in his journal on August 23, 1864: "Rec'd my photograph of the Essayons Dramatic Club -- much pleased with it."
"[Petersburg, Va. "Essayons Dramatic Club," a group of the U.S. Engineer Battalion]," photographed by Timothy O'Sullivan, August 1864. Thompson is seated, second row, fifth from the right.
Gilbert Thompson wrote"The Engineer Battalion in the Civil War: A Contribution to the History of the United States Engineers," edited and re-published after his death in 1910 in the Occasional Papers Engineer School, United States Army, No. 44.
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Portrait of Gilbert Thompson, Hopedale, MA, December 24th, 1864.
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Published in 2020 by the University of Tennessee Press, this is the definitive edition of Gilbert Thompson's journal, edited by Mark A. Smith. This volume is packed with information on the Regular Army Engineers and covers nearly the entire war. Moreover, it is simply a delightful read. Thompson captures all the details of camp life in sparkling prose and in the many offhand sketches that are included.
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