Thomas Grimke Rhett

Thomas Grimke Rhett was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and a United States Army officer who served from July 1, 1845, to April 1, 1861. He served in the Mexican-American War in 1847–1848. Rhett was awarded a brevet appointment as captain for gallantry in the defense of Puebla, Mexico, during the Siege of Puebla, October 12, 1847. After his resignation from the U.S. Army, April 1, 1861, he was appointed a brigadier general in the South Carolina Militia but did not serve in that office. He was a staff officer in the Confederate States Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War from April 1861 until May 31, 1862. He first served as voluntary aide-de-camp to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard and then major from April to July, 1861. Rhett then served as chief of staff to Beauregard's successor, General Joseph E. Johnston. After Johnston was wounded on May 31, 1862, and was succeeded in command by General Robert E. Lee, Rhett was transferred to the District of Arkansas in Confederacy's Trans-Mississippi Department where he served as chief of ordnance. From April 1863 until the end of the war in 1865, he served as chief of artillery in the Trans-Mississippi Department. From 1865 to 1873, he served as a colonel of ordnance in the Egyptian Army.

Early life Thomas Grimke Rhett was born in South Carolina on August 2, 1821, as Thomas Moore Smith. The family changed their surname to Rhett in 1837.

Rhett was appointed brevet second lieutenant in the Ordnance Department of the U.S. Army on July 1, 1845, and served at the Washington Arsenal. Rhett was appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Regiment of Mounted Riflemen on May 27, 1846, and ordered to Mexico.

On June 10, 1846, Rhett married Ann Graham Mason, the daughter of Thomson Francis Mason (1785–1838), a descendant of George Mason.

Rhett was promoted to first lieutenant, in the U.S. Army's Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, reorganized in 1861 as the 3rd Cavalry Regiment (United States), on April 18, 1847. Rhett was a member of the Aztec Club of 1847, which was founded as a military society of officers who served with the United States Army in the Mexican-American War.

After the Mexican-American War, Rhett served on commissary and recruiting duty in 1847–1848.

American Civil War After the surrender of Fort Bliss to a Confederate force, Rhett reported to the provisional Confederate government at Montgomery, Alabama. He was appointed major of artillery in the Confederate States Army on March 16, 1861, which was not the level of appointment he desired. He then returned to South Carolina where he was commissioned brigadier general in the South Carolina Militia by Governor Francis W. Pickens. It was only on April 1, 1861, that Rhett officially resigned from the United States Army.

Rhett was major, assistant adjutant general and chief of staff to General Joseph E. Johnston from July 20, 1861, until May 31, 1862. From May 1862 to April 1863, Rhett was chief of ordnance in the District of Arkansas, Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy, serving under Lieutenant General Theophilus H. Holmes starting October 22, 1862.

Later life After the war Rhett left the United States and was appointed colonel of ordnance in the Egyptian army from 1865 until 1873. Then, he had a paralytic stroke, and resigned. He remained abroad in Europe until 1876. He was not able to find relief from his condition there. He returned to the United States and lived with relatives in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1876.

Thomas Grimke Rhett died of a paralytic stroke in Baltimore on July 28, 1878. He was buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. His body was later moved to Loudon Park Cemetery.