Will H. Thompson

Born in 1848, Will Henry Thompson was the brother of writer Maurice Thompson. During the American Civil War, the two served as privates in the Confederate Army, a period that shaped the memory and themes of Will Thompson’s later writing.

After the war, he studied law with his brother, and the two eventually opened a law office together in Indiana. He later moved to Seattle, where he became Western Counsel for the Great Northern Railroad.

Thompson is best known today for his poem High Tide at Gettysburg, which helped preserve his name in American literary and Civil War memory. Although far less widely known than some of his contemporaries, his career stands out for the unusual mix of soldier, lawyer, railroad counsel, and poet.