Charles Henry Tompkins???

[johandenver]

Hello!

I'm hoping someone here can shed some light over a question I have.
I've found two different Charles Henry Tompkins with different birthdays but they both seem to have had command of similar units. Mainly of an artillery brigade in the 6th Corps/Division artillery in the 6th corps and also command of the 1st Rhode Island Artillery.

This one is the first Charles Henry Tompkins I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Henry_Tompkins

Then I found this (which names him Sr and refers to him as commander of the 1st Rhode Island Art)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=6720334&page=gr

Then this (which seems to be the same person as the first webpage but who also commanded 1st Rhode Island Art as the second one also claims)
http://crossedsabers.blogspot.se/2007/05/fiddlers-green-charles-h-tompkins.html

Can anyone help me sort out the confusion?

 

[ExNavyPilot]

If you look at the references section on the Wikipedia webpage, you'll see in reference #1 that there was a second Charles Henry Tompkins (1834-1895) who was in artillery. This man is likely the one who is listed as Colonel for 1st Regiment, RI Light Artillery on the National Park Service's Civil War Soldier and Sailor Database and is the one described on the Find A Grave website.

The Charles Henry Tompkins (1830-1915) who was in the cavalry was surely the man awarded a MOH. He then apparently went onto staff duty as a Quartermaster, as discussed in the Crossed Sabers website.

I think the Wikipedia entry is in error. Someone likely confused the two men and conflated their service history into one big mess. It would not be that common to find a Captain of US cavalry become a Colonel of volunteer (Vermont) cavalry and then suddenly switch over to become a Colonel of volunteer artillery from a totally different state (Rhode Island.)

I don't have firm proof, but I would surmise that the Find a Grave and Crossed Sabers descriptions of their respective Charles Henry Tompkins are correct, but Wikipedia is wrong. That's the bad thing about Wikipedia; the inputs aren't reviewed by "experts" as factual before they are posted. Someone can make big mistakes in an initial posting, as seems to have happened on the Wikipedia page for Tompkins, and if no one comes along to fix it, the bad information stays there. Of course, Find a Grave has the same potential for errors, and I'm not familiar with the Crossed Sabers website to vouch for its accuracy, but they certainly seem to present clearer and less confusing descriptions of the men in question.

 

[johandenver]

Thanks for your view on this, it does seem that the wikipedia article is the one that's wrong.