Killpatrick, Thomas M.

Born: 1807-10-30 Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Died: 1862-04-06 Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee

Alternate name: Kilpatrick

Killpatrick moved to Columbus, Ohio, as a teenager and married Catharine Sells in 1829, with whom he had eight children. He relocated to Winchester, Illinois, in 1833 and established a pottery factory, which he ran until 1849. A Whig and later Republican, Killpatrick unsuccessfully ran for the Illinois House of Representatives in 1836 but subsequently won election to the Illinois Senate and served there from 1840 to 1847. He ran for governor in 1846 but lost to Augustus C. French. He assisted in the organization of Scott County and was an active Methodist. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Killpatrick enlisted in the 28th Illinois Infantry, the members of which selected him as their captain. He later earned a promotion to colonel and was in command of the regiment when he was killed in action at Shiloh.

Portrait and Biographical Album of Morgan and Scott Counties, Ills. (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1889), 546-49; John Clayton, The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 208, 210, 212, 213; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 160, 298; U.S., Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, 1861-1865, 6.