.Henry Thompson Dou.Henry Thompson Douglas, civil engineer, colonel of
engineers. Confederate States army, and brigadier-general. United States
army, was born at "Cherry Hall," James City county, Virginia, September
15, 1838. His father was William Robert Christian Douglas, of Kaimes,
New Kent county, who was graduated with the degree of M. A. from William
and Mary College, Virginia. His mother was Lucy Ann (Hankins) Douglas,
who was born at "Cherry Hall," James City county, Virginia, the daughter
of William Hankins of "Cherry Hall." The grand-father of General Henry
Thompson Douglas was William Douglas of Kaimes, and his
great-grandfather, Robert Christian, of Providence Forge and Cedar Grove
in New Kent county, Virginia. Beverly Brown Douglas, an uncle of General
Douglas, was graduated from William and Mary College and attended
Harvard College, and with his brothers William and John were students at
the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. The Virginia Douglases spring
from the Scottish family of Douglas, which is described by its
historians as the most powerful and widely celebrated clan that Scotland
ever produced. The name of the family was assumed from lands on the
small river Douglas, in Lanarkshire, where William of Douglas was
established as early as 1175. As in the case of several other Scottish
families, an attempt has been made to ascribe the family a Norman-French
origin, but there is no question that the name, like the family, is
Gaelic, being derived from the words "duf-glas" or "du-glas," meaning
"dark grey" from the color of the waters. The race of Douglas, greatly
celebrated for its romantic career, may well be accounted an historic
family, for as Hume, the annalist of the house, has it:
So many,
so good, as of the Douglases have been,
Of one surname was ne'er in
Scotland seen.
The family rose into power under King Robert
Bruce, of whom "the good lord James of Douglas" was the most
distinguished adherent, but suffered a partial eclipse when the ninth
earl, James, rebelled against King James II. The earls of Angus however
partly restored the ancestral prominence of the house, which has always
continued to be one of the most important in Scotland. William Douglas,
the first of the family who appears on record, was so called, doubtless,
from the wild pastoral dale with its river of the name which he
possessed. He is found witnessing charters by the king and bishop of
Glasgow between 1175 and 1213. He was either the brother or
brother-in-law of Sir Freskin of Murray, and had six sons, of whom
Archibald or Erkenbald was the heir, and Brice. a monk of Kelso, rose to
be prior of Lesmahago (a dependency of Kelso on the outskirts of
Douglasdale), and in 1203 was preferred to the bishopric of Murray. He
owed this promotion, no doubt, to the influence of his kinsmen, the
Murrays, and it contributed not a little to the rising fortunes of his
house. He was followed beyond the Spey by four brothers, of whom one
became sheriff of Elgin ; another became a canon of Murray; and a third,
who had been a monk of Kelso, seems to have became archbishop of Murray.
A fourth brother, who had been a Parson of Douglas, appears to have
become Dean of Murray.
The armorial bearings of one branch of
the Douglas family are thus heraldically described : "Arms — Argent a
man's heart gules ensigned with an imperial crown proper ; on a chief
azure three stars of the first,"which translated means upon a field of
silver a man's heart red, beneath an imperial crown in its proper colors
; upon a dividing line upon a blue ground three stars of silver. The
original arms of the Douglas family were simply three silver stars on a
blue field. The origin of this is unknown. The origin and significance
of the crowned heart is better known ; it was assumed by the family as a
memorial of the fate of the Good Sir James of Douglas, who perished in
Spain in 1330, while on a journey to the Holy Land, with the heart of
his sovereign, Robert Bruce. The dying king had bequeathed his heart to
the Good Sir James, who had been his greatest captain, with the request
that he would carry it to Jerusalem and there bury it before the High
Altar. It had been stated that Sir James died on his way to the Holy
Land and that he had the heart with him at that time encased in a silver
box, but Hume the historian of the family distinctly states that the
errand had been accomplished and that the knight was on his return to
Scotland. "He carried with him to Jerusalem the king's heart, embalmed
and put in a box of gold which he solemnly buried before the High Altar
there, and this is the reason that the Douglas bear the crowned heart in
their arms ever since." The name, formerly Douglas, is now spelled in
many branches with an additional "s," as Douglass. The family and the
name, assuming that all the Douglases belong to the Scotch family, is
well known in America, and distinct families have attained prominence in
Virginia, in New England and in Pennsylvania.
Henry Thompson
Douglas received his preliminary education in private schools in New
Kent county, and at Williamsburg, Virginia. After leaving school he
entered on field work as a civil engineer, continuing till 1861, when he
entered the Confederate States army in the Engineer Corps. In 1S83 he
became connected with the Baltimore and C~)hio Railroad as chief
engineer and continued as such until 1896. He was engineer commissioner
of the city of Baltimore, making a topographical survey of that city. In
1898 he was commissioned brigadier-general of the United States army,
going to Cuba with the Seventh Army Corps, commanded by Major General
Fitzhugh Lee. In 1900 he came to New York City and entered the service
of the New York Rajiid Transit Railroad as engineer, which position he
has held ever since.
General Douglas has seen much military
service. He entered the service of the Confederate army as lieutenant of
engineers in 1S61 on the staff of General John Bankhead Magruder,
commanding the Army of the Peninsula. He was chief engineer of A. P.
Hill's division of the Army of Northern Virginia during the seven days
battles ? round Richmond, and was promoted captain and major of
engineers. He was appointed by General Robert E. Lee a member of a board
of engineers, with Lieutenant-Colonels Collins and William Proctor Smith
of the Corps of Engineers, his rank being that of a major, assigned to
locate the "intermediate" line for the defence of Richmond. Virginia.
\\'hen the plans were completed and approved by General Lee, the line of
defence was ordered to be constructed and Major Douglas was placed in
charge of this work where he remained for about a year. Later he was
promoted lieutenant-colonel of engineers, and assigned as chief engineer
of the Trans-Mississippi Department under General E. Kirby Smith. He was
then promoted colonel of engineers and remained with General Smith until
the close of the war. After the return of peace Colonel Douglas went
with Colonel Andrew Talcott to Mexico, and was engaged in constructing
the railroad from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, remaining there about
two years. Returning to the United States, he assisted in the
construction of a railroad from Louisville, Kentucky, to Cincinnati,
Ohio. After its completion General Douglas was made its chief engineer.
Afterwards he accepted a position on the Texas Pacific Railroad, later
called the Transcontinental Railroad. Subsequently he was a member of
the Corps of Engineers with Major Henry D. Whitcomb, which constructed
the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, from Huntingdon to Kanawha Falls. He
then joined Colonel T. M. R. Talcott on the Richmond & Danville
Railroad, and was afterward chief engineer and superintendent of the
road from Richmond to West Point, Virginia, and chief engineer of the
Richmond & Danville Railroad until 1883. General Douglas has written
various papers on engineering. He wrote a sketch of the life of General
Magruder, and one also of General John B. Hood of the Army of Northern
Virginia.
The brothers and sisters of General Douglas were:
i. Dr. William Walter Douglas, of Warsaw. Richmond county, Virginia, who
was a graduate of William and Mary College and of the Richmond Medical
College. He served in the Confederate army as a surgeon in General
Jackson's and General Stuart's corps.
2. John Beverly, who died when
young.
3. James Malcolm, of Baltimore, Maryland, an engineer.
4.
Robert Bruce, lawyer, deceased.
5. Elizabeth }., deceased, married
Walter Weir, of Manassas, Virginia.
6. Mary, deceased, maried Edward
Spotswood Pollard, of Zoar, King William county, Virginia.
7. Lucy,
deceased, who married Colonel James Johnson, of King William county,
Virginia.
General Douglas found among his papers an interesting
bit of paper, evidently torn from a note book, on which was written in
the handwriting of General Robert E. Lee, an order to General Joseph E.
Johnston, then commanding the Army of Northern Virginia, directing
Captain Henry Thompson Douglas of the Corps of Engineers then on the
staff of General Magruder, to report to General Lee at Richmond,
Virginia, and endorsed in their own handwriting by Generals Joseph E.
Johnston and J. B. Magruder. This paper has been filed in the
Confederate Museum at Richmond, Virginia. On reporting to General Lee he
was ordered to locate and construct the defences of Chafin's Blufif, on
the north side of the James river about half a mile below Drury's BluiT.
He constructed these defences, mounting eight guns of the largest
calibre, bearing upon the river, and forming a part of the defences of
Richmond, Virginia.
Henry T. Douglas married. June 9, 1868, Anne
Matilda, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1852, daughter of Edward
Robbins, of Philadelphia. r>
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