Thomas Neville Waul

Thomas Neville Waul (January 5, 1813 – July 28, 1903) was a Confederate States Army brigadier general during the American Civil War (Civil War). Before the Civil War, he was a teacher, lawyer, judge and planter. He served for a year in the Provisional Confederate Congress from Texas. He was captured at the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1863 and exchanged in October 1863. After his promotion, Waul served in the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department. He was wounded at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry. After the Civil War, Waul was a farmer and lawyer who lived in Texas until aged 90.

Early life
Thomas N. Waul was born January 5, 1813 in the Sumter District, now Sumter County, South Carolina, near Statesburg, South Carolina. He attended South Carolina College, now the University of South Carolina, until his junior year, then moved to Florence, Alabama where he was a teacher. He moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1830 where he became a lawyer in 1835 and judge. In 1850, he moved to Gonzales County, Texas and became a planter. Waul made an unsuccessful run for a seat in the United States Congress in 1854. He served as a delegate to the Texas secession convention.

American Civil War service
Thomas N. Waul was a member of the Provisional Confederate Congress from Texas between February 19, 1861 and February 17, 1862 when a permanent Confederate government was established. He served on the Committee on Commercial Affairs and Committee on Indian Affairs. He opposed the African slave trade as a diplomatic effort and restrictions on the cotton trade. He supported establishment of the central government, free trade and local defense. Waul lost his run for a seat in the First Confederate Congress of the Regular or Permanent Congress of the Confederate States.

On May 17, 1862, Waul entered Confederate States Army service as colonel of Waul's Legion, which he recruited.

Waul was captured at the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1863. Waul was promoted to brigadier general on September 18, 1863 although he was not exchanged until October 16, 1863. His performance and leadership were commended by then Major General Stephen D. Lee. Waul then commanded a brigade in John G. Walker's division in the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department. Waul's brigade fought in the Red River campaign at the Battle of Mansfield and the Battle of Pleasant Hill.

On April 30, 1864, after being transferred to Arkansas to oppose Union Major General Frederick Steele's Camden Expedition, Brigadier General Waul was wounded in the left arm at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry Arkansas. He returned to service in September 1864 and until December 1864 commanded Brigade I, Division I, I Corps of the Trans-Mississippi Department. From January 1865 to May 26, 1865, he commanded Brigade I, Division I, of the District of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in the Trans-Mississippi Department. There is no record of his parole.

Aftermath
After the Civil War, Waul returned to Texas where he was elected to the first Texas reconstruction convention. After practicing law at Galveston, Texas, Waul retired to Hunt County, Texas, near Greenville, where he was a farmer. Thomas Neville Waul died near Greenville, Texas on July 28, 1903. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery at Fort Worth, Texas. Waul had no blood relatives at the time of his death.