Brooks, T. B. (Thomas Benton), 1836-1900

Thomas Benton Brooks was a Union army officer and aide-de-camp to Major-General Quincy Adams Gillmore. Brooks joined the army on August 9, 1861 as a First Lieutenant in the First New York Engineers. He was promoted to captain on January 21, 1862 and to major and aide-de-camp on August 17, 1863. He received the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel for meritorious service at the siege of Fort Pulaski, and the brevet rank of full colonel for service during the siege of Charleston, South Carolina. In 1864, he was sent to Florida to aid in a major expedition to establish a loyal Florida government and to interdict Confederate supplies landed at Jacksonville. He went to Fernandina to oversee operations to procure lumber on the Nassau and St. Mary's Rivers, in support of the larger Union expedition. The result of these Union activities in Florida was their own defeat at the Battle of Olustee (Ocean Pond) on February 20, 1864. Brooks resigned from the military on October 6, 1864, and returned to civilian life. He died on November 22, 1900.

From the description of Correspondence, 1864. (Florida State Archive). WorldCat record id: 32413197