The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Capt. Rev. Tom W. Todd

Of all the north Missouri irregulars of 1864, Tom Todd, aka Capt. Tom Todd, aka Rev. Tom Todd, seems to be one of the toughest nuts to crack in regard to fleshing out a biography.

Every so often somebody will post on this board making an inquiry about him, or drop a tidbit of information. I'm making this post hoping that somebody has come up with something new on him. So with that ask, I'll also drop a few tidbits of my own I've dug up on him recently.

A newspaper blurb in the St. Joseph Observer from Sept. 28, 1912, speaks of an "Uncle Jack Settle, of Fayette, who was a sergeant in Company E, under Capt. Thos. Todd, Perkins Battalion, Clark's Brigade, Parson's Division of Infantry during the Civil War...."

This seems to confirm previous information that Tom Todd actually was a company grade officer in Perkin's Battalion, an organized Confederate unit, as opposed to freelancing it like other north Missouri Confederates that summer of 1864.

Then there is an 1897 memoir of a Dr. J.F. Robinson that I have found. As a 9-year-old boy 34 years earlier, Robinson was living on his parents farm just north of the Singleton farm southeast of Centralia, Missouri. As a result of timing and proximity, Robinson was a witness to the events surrounding the Centralia Massacre and Battle of Centralia. As Robinson recounts his story, he states "The recruits had been gathered up through Northern Missouri and were under Major Thrailkill and Capt. Tom Todd, the well known farmer and preacher of Vernon county...."

Now I think that Tom Todd residence in Vernon County was post-war, because I have also located a 1930 obituary for his cousin, Dr. Joseph Davis Todd. In that obit, it is mentioned "Dr. J.D. Todd was born at St. Joseph on September 1, 1843, his parents being Mr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Todd, pioneers of Missouri, who in the early days had pressed westward from Kentucky. With the death of his mother, he went, at the age of seven years, with his widowed father to Howard County. In 1863, together with his father and brother, he joined the Confederate forces in the Civil War, serving in the company of his cousin, Captain Thomas W. Todd. In 1864 this company joined the army of General Price at Boonville and participated in General Price's memorable march to the south."

So the Capt. Tom W. Todd of our quest was a cousin of this J.D. Todd, and, assuming Tom W. Todd and Joseph D. Todd are first cousins, that would make him the nephew of Thomas D. Todd. This also establishes that at least one branch of the Todd family came out of Kentucky, and ended up in Howard County via St. Joseph, Missouri.

J.D. Todd's obit then goes on to detail his considerable post-war education before it gets to the point where it says, "In 1877 Dr. Todd moved to Vernon County and began the practice of medicine in what is now the Richards district. He bought a farm which remains the property of the family at the time." The obit continues to state he went on to serve in the General Assembly, and as a physician did all sorts of humanitarian great works.

So....Tom W. Todd appears to have been a prominent post-war Vernon County farmer, nearby to his cousin Joseph D. Todd, a prominent post-war Vernon County physician and farmer. And we don't know who his father was or where his father came from, but we do know a bit about his father's brother, who happened to be the namesake of the subject of our discussion.

This moves us a little further along in getting a handle on a fellow who was widely considered to be a major guerrilla leader in 1864, but actually was a mid-level officer of a regular unit. In addition, we now know a bit more on Capt. Tom Todd's movements after Centralia--he connected with Price at Boonville.

One last item of interest, I have found a newspaper blurb from an 1897 issue of the Centralia Fireside Guard stating "Rev. Tom Todd visited his mother in Monroe Saturday and Sunday. So was this guy one and the same as our Rev. Tom Todd? Don't know. But if it is, it gives us a little bit of information on his mother. That's all I have for now.

Anyway, if anybody has come up with anything more on Tom Todd, I would love to hear about it.

Messages In This Thread

Capt. Rev. Tom W. Todd
Re: Capt. Rev. Tom W. Todd
Re: Capt. Rev. Tom W. Todd
Re: Capt. Rev. Tom W. Todd
That's our guy!--Now For W.C. Todd....
W.C. Todd
Re: W.C. Todd
Re: Hockers of Co E
Re: That's our guy!--Now For W.C. Todd....
Re: Eugene B Todd (brother)
Re: Capt William Hocker Todd and Chenault ties
Re: Capt William Hocker Todd and Chenault ties
Re: James Todd (Bro to TW Todd)
Confirmed Tom W. Todd/W.C. Todd = Cousins
Re: Confirmed Tom W. Todd/W.C. Todd = Cousins
Tom Todd Legacy
Attn: Kirby Ross
Trial Transcription found