May 20
On this day in 1861, Thomas Fentress Toon (1840-1902) enlisted as a private in Company K, 20th North Carolina Infantry, beginning a remarkable military journey that culminated in his promotion to Brigadier General three years later. The 20-year-old Columbus County native was a senior at Wake Forest College when the war broke out. He raced home to enlist in the “Columbus Guards No. 2,” on the same day that the state of North Carolina seceded, then returned to college where he graduated in June. When he rejoined his unit at Fort Caswell on June 18, 1861, he was immediately elected 2nd lieutenant. The precocious and popular Toon was soon elected Captain on July 22, then Colonel on February 26, 1863, and finally temporarily promoted to Brigadier General on May 31, 1864, when the brigade’s commander, R.D. Johnston, was wounded. He led the brigade until August 1864, when he reverted to Colonel of the 20th North Carolina when General Johnston recovered from his wound. A gallant soldier, Toon seemed to attract enemy bullets–he was wounded seven times during the war, first at Seven Pines on May 31, 1862, and last and most severely at Fort Stedman on March 25, 1865. After the war, Toon worked as a railway agent for sixteen years, and then became an educator. He married twice, raised ten children, and established Fair Bluff Academy in Columbus County. He was elected state Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1900, before dying of complications from pneumonia in 1902.
Sources:
Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr., North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, 6:432, 521; The Concord Times, February 20, 1902; Baltimore Sun, February 20, 1902; Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray, 307-308.
