Member of the 8th Tennessee Federal cavalry, 1863-1865 Civil War. 5th Infantry, 1876 Tongue River, 1879 Fort Keogh, Indian Wars. 22nd Infantry, 1898 Cuba as wagon master, Spanish-American War. Married a Lakota and lived on the reservation with her and their children. Certainly another subject for some future book.

His Civil War pension request is massive. It was still held by the Department of Veterans Affairs when I went to search for it in 1992 -- I had to make a special request under the Privacy Act. I believe what files I have are incomplete however, because there is no mention of military service other than his Civil War period.

Obituary from The Atchison County Mail, April 10, 1936, Rock Port, Missouri:

COL. H. C. THOMPSON

George Thompson has handed The Mail the following obituary of his brother, Co. H. C. Thompson, who died at Miles City, Mont., on March 27th:

Colonel Henry Clay Thompson answered taps sounded from the parapet beyond the Great Divide at three fifteen o'clock on Friday morning. He was Citizen No. 1 of Miles City, coming to this region with Gen. Nelson A. Miles in 1876 and assisted in establishing the frontier cantonment and post which were occupied by the soldiers of the Fifth Infantry. His residence was continuous from his arrival here in August, 1876, to the time of his death early on Friday morning.

Col. Thompson was widely known throughout the northwest as a distinguished and patriotic citizen, whose services for his country were second to none in all the nation. Born on the border line which separated the north from the south, the boy Thompson followed his father into the Federal cavalry and came out of the Civil war to take up the responsibilities of a man after his father was killed while serving with the Federal cavalry.

Obituary.

The subject of this sketch was born in Washington county, Tennessee, on December 27, 1847. He spent his early years in the mountainous region of that state. When he was 16 years of age he volunteered to fight in the Civil war and became a member of the 8th Tennessee Federal cavalry, serving for a period of two years. His father was killed while serving with the Tenth Federal cavalry. During his enlistment in the army he took part in a number of minor engagements and participated in a number of cavalry raids in Virginia under General Stone. Mustered out in 1865 he re turned to his home in the Tennessee mountains, near the North Carolina line, and supported his mother.

Leaving home when he was 22, in 1869, he went north into Illinois, thence to St. Louis where he met an old boyhood friend from his state. Here he enlisted in the Fifth Infantry. He came to the mouth of the Tongue river on August 1,1876, with General Nelson A. Miles as a member of Co. E, under Captain E.P. Ewers. He helped in the building of the first cantonment at the mouth of the Tongue where it joins the Yellowstone, and was present when the troops moved the next year to the site now occupied by the U. S. range live stock experiment station, but then Fort Keogh, in honor of Captain Miles Keogh, who was killed with General Custer and his immediate command in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He was mustered out on August 30, 1879, but remained attached to the military post as wagonmaster.

In 1898 when war was declared against Spain Col. Thompson volunteered his services and went with General Shafter to Cuba as wagon master in the 22nd Infantry. He served through the hostilities until the victories of San Juan Hill and the smashing of Admiral Cervera's fleet brought a plea for peace from Madrid. Since that time he continued his residence in Miles City, living as a retired veteran and occupying the position of bailiff of the district court.