Horace Holmes Thomas

{{short description|Union Army officer and politician}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Horace Holmes Thomas

|image = Horace Holmes Thomas.jpg

|alt = Right facing head and shoulders sepia toned photo of Horace Holmes Thomas

|caption = Middlebury College Collections. Reproduced in sources including Volume 2 (1912) of Memorials of Deceased Companions of the Commandery of the State of Illinois.

|office1 = Member of the Illinois Senate from the 6th District

|term_start1 = January 9, 1889

|term_end1 = July 22, 1890

|predecessor1 = Henry W. Leman

|successor1 = Jacob Miller

|office2 = 29th Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives

|term_start2 = January 5, 1881

|term_end2 = January 3, 1883

|predecessor2 = William A. James

|successor2 = Lorin C. Collins

|office3 = Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 6th District of Cook County

|term_start3 = January 8, 1879

|term_end3 = January 3, 1883

|alongside3 = Christian Meyer, Austin Sexton, Lorin C. Collins, George G. Struckman, Bernhast F. Weber

|predecessor3 = Various (multimember district)

|successor3 = Various (multimember district)

|birth_date = {{Birth date |1831|12|18}}

|birth_place = Hubbardton, Vermont, U.S.

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1904|03|17|1831|12|18}}

|death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

|resting_place =

|party = Republican

|spouse = Annie Greenough Hale (m. 1870)

|children = 1

|relatives =

|education = Middlebury College

|profession = Attorney

|allegiance= United States
Union

|branch= Union Army
Tennessee Militia

|rank= Captain (Union Army)
Brigadier General (Militia)

|serviceyears= 1861–1865 (Union Army)
1865–1867 (Militia)

|commands= Quartermaster General, Tennessee Militia

|unit= 8th Tennessee Infantry (Union Army)
3rd Division, II Corps (Union Army)
Staff of Governor William G. Brownlow (Militia)

|battles= American Civil War

}}

Horace Holmes Thomas (December 18, 1831 – March 17, 1904) was a lawyer, Union Army officer, state legislator, and appraiser in Illinois who served in the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate.{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/middpf_A9PF.unknown.029|title=Horace Holmes Thomas, Middlebury College Alumnus, Class of 1857|date=July 21, 2022|via=Internet Archive}} He was a Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1880 to 1881.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxRV0-HNZRAC&pg=PP493|title=A biographical directory of the United States Customs Service, 1771–1989|first=U. S. Customs|last=Service|date=July 25, 1985|publisher=The Service|via=Google Books|access-date=2024-01-27}}

He was born in Hubbardton, Vermont, graduated from Middlebury College, and studied law. He moved to Chicago in 1859.

He was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.{{Cite web|url=https://vermontcivilwar.org/get.php?input=53283|title=Vermont Civil War, Lest We Forget|website=vermontcivilwar.org}} He wrote about his Civil War experiences. He married and had a daughter.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TapBAAAAYAAJ&dq=horace+holmes+thomas&pg=PA189|title=Catalogue of Officers and Students of Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont: And of Others who Have Received Degrees, 1800–1915|editor-first1= Edgar J. |editor-last1= Wiley | publisher = Middlebury College |date=July 25, 1917|via=Google Books}} He was written about by the Grand Army Hall and Memorial Association of Illinois in 1904. {{Cite book |last=Illinois |first=Grand Army Hall and Memorial Association of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1s0APwAACAAJ |title=Genl. Horace H. Thomas ... |date=1904 |language=en}}