Charles S. Thomas

Charles Spalding Thomas
United States Senator from Colorado
In office January 15, 1913 – March 3, 1921
Preceded by	Charles J. Hughes, Jr.
Succeeded by	Samuel D. Nicholson
11th Governor of Colorado
In office January 10, 1899 – January 8, 1901
Lieutenant	Francis Patrick Carney
Preceded by	Alva Adams
Succeeded by	James Bradley Orman
Personal details
Born	December 6, 1849 Darien, Georgia
Died	June 24, 1934 (aged 84) Denver, Colorado
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Military service
Service/branch	Confederate States Army
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Charles Spalding Thomas (December 6, 1849 – June 24, 1934) was a United States Senator from Colorado. Born in Darien, Georgia he attended private schools in Georgia and Connecticut, and served briefly in the Confederate Army.

Biography

Thomas graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1871, and was admitted to the bar the same year. He moved to Colorado and began to practice in Denver, where he was a city attorney in 1875 and 1876. He was a member of the Democratic National Committee from 1884 to 1896, and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States House of Representatives in 1884, to the Senate in 1888 and 1895, and to the governorship in 1894.

Thomas served as the 11th Governor of Colorado from 1899 to 1901. In 1913, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1912 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Charles J. Hughes, Jr.; in 1914, he was reelected to a full term. Thomas served from January 15, 1913, to March 3, 1921, and was the last Confederate veteran to serve in the Senate.^[1] In 1920, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection on the Nationalist ticket, receiving only 3% of the vote.^[2]

In the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses, Thomas was chairman of the Committee on Woman Suffrage, and a member of the Committee on Coast Defenses (Sixty-fifth Congress) and the Committee on Pacific Railroads (Sixty-sixth Congress). He resumed the practice of law in Denver, where he died on June 24, 1934; his remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered in the mountains.

Notes

1. "Civil War Veterans in the Senate". United States Senate. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
2. Page, William Tyler. "Statistics of the Congressional and Presidential Elections of November 6, 1934" (PDF). Clerk of the House of Representatives. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2006-10-25.

References

• Governor Charles S. Thomas Collection at the Colorado State Archives Retrieved on 18 April 2008.
• United States Congress. "Charles S. Thomas (id: T000160)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

External links

Charles S. Thomas at Find a Grave