Thomas O. Seaver - Biography

Biography

Seaver was born in Cavendish, Vermont but after his first year of school his parents moved to Pomfret seeking better educational opportunities for their son. He ultimately attended Green Mountain Academy in South Woodstock, graduating in 1855. He matriculated at Tufts University later that year, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity, but left Tufts in 1856 to attend Norwich University, a Vermont military academy. He left Norwich without a degree in 1858, completing his studies at Union College and receiving a B.A. in 1859. On June 30, 1861, he wed Nancy Taylor Johnson Spaulding.

On the outbreak of the Civil War, Seaver mustered on July 16, 1861 in Newbury, where he was given command of the 3rd Vermont Infantry as a captain, serving as commander until July 1864. He was raised to major on August 13, 1861; to lieutenant colonel on September 17, 1862; and to full colonel on January 13, 1863. He served in the Battles at Antietam and Gettysburg, among many others.

After the war, Seaver settled in Cavendish once more and began work as an attorney, serving as a public defender. He was made a judge of the probate court in 1886. He received the Medal of Honor on April 8, 1892 for valor in the Battle of Spotsylvania, and died in Woodstock in 1912 from a heart attack and was buried at River Street Cemetery in Windsor County, Vermont. He was survived by his wife Nancy and two children, a girl and a boy (two daughters had predeceased him).