History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Thomas Drummond
THOMAS DRUMMOND was born in the State of Virginia in 1833 and came to Iowa in 1855, making his home in Vinton, Benton County. He became the editor of the Vinton Eagle, a Republican journal, and in 1856 was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated John C. Fremont for President. In 1857, when but twenty-five years of age, he was elected to represent Benton County in the House of the Seventh General Assembly. In 1860 he was promoted to a seat in the Senate and secured the location of the Asylum for the Blind at Vinton and an appropriation for the erection of a building for its home. At the beginning of the Rebellion he raised a company of volunteers and was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry. After several months service he received a commission in the regular army and was attached to the Fifth United States Cavalry. He was a gallant officer during the war and was mortally wounded while bravely leading his men in a charge in General Sheridan's army, in the last battle on Virginia soil, which resulted in the surrender of General Lee's army in April, 1865.