Thomas Monroe Coombs
Civil War Diary
About Captain Thomas Monroe Coombs, CSA and the Coombs family of Kentucky.
Tom Coombs writes about the Civil War
- Early Days - Tom raises a cavalry company and rides off to war. He is captured.
- The Long Way Around - Tom escapes and travels 1600 miles to rejoin his unit.
- Raiding with Morgan - in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio.
- Life as a POW - in the Ohio State Penitentiary.
- Letter to Lou - from the Ohio State Penitentiary.
- More Life as a POW - at Fort Delaware.
- Back Home - Tom puts his life back together.
Who are these people?
- Index of persons found in the diary
- Coombs family genealogy on WorldConnect.
- Sources used in preparing the material for publication
Other accounts of prison life - Interesting items I found in researching Tom's diary. - 4 June 2000
- Memoirs of John S. Swann - A Virginian who arrived at Fort Delaware just as Tom was leaving for home, Capt Swann tells a story very different than Tom's.
- Excerpts from the Diary of Francis A. Boyle - A comparison of life at Point Lookout and Fort Delaware.
- Excerpts from the Diary of George W. Hall - A Georgia Private's life at Fort Delaware.
- Col Hoffmann's order on POW Rations - A list of what rations were supposed to be.
I have tried to identify all those whose names appear in Tom's diary, as well as to provide some background information to assist the modern reader in understanding daily life in the time of my great-great-great uncle, but there still are too many persons who remain phantoms. Your help in filling in the blanks would be appreciated.