An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, page 355 COLONEL THOMAS McARTHUR ANDERSON, of the Fourteenth infantry, is the present Commander of the Vancouver Barracks, and has held the office during the past six years. He is a native of Ohio, born in Chillicothe in 1836. He received his literary education at Mount St. Mary's College, Maryland, and pursued his legal studies at the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was graduated in 1858. He practiced his profession for three years, but upon the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted in the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant of the Fifth Cavalry May 7, 1861, and reported to General George H. Thomas, with whom he served in the first campaign of the war. May 14, 1861, he was commissioned Captain of the Twelfth Infantry, and participated in nearly all the battles of the Army of the Potomac, being twice brevetted for bravery in battle. After the war he served as Commissioner of Registration in the South, during the reconstruction period. He has served as Major of the Twenty-first Infantry, and also in the Tenth Infantry; he was Lieutenant Colonel of the Ninth Infantry, and was promoted to the office of Colonel of the Fourteenth Infantry, September 6, 1886. He has commanded many important military posts in the country, and for many years has been a contributor to military and literary periodicals. Colonel Anderson organized the Oregon and Washington branch of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is a member of the Loyal Legion and the Military Service Institute. The parental ancestry of the Colonel is traced to the Virginia colonists in 1635. His great-great-grandfather was a vestryman of St. Peter's parish, Virginia, about the year 1680; his great-grandfather lived and died at Goldmine, Hanover county, Virginia; his grandfather was Richard Clough Anderson, Lieutenant Colonel Third Virginia Continental line, and Aid-de-Camp to General La Fayette. Several other members of the family were in the war of the Revolution: Colonel Thomas Marshall, Captain John Marshall (Chief Justice), General George Rogers Clarke, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Clarke, Captain John Anderson, and Major George Croughn. Governor William Clarke, for whom Clarke county, Washington, is named, was also a relative of the family. Colonel Anderson's maternal grandfather was Duncan McArthur, a Brigadier General of the war of 1812. Colonel Anderson will probably be longest remembered in this community as the man who brought to a successful legal issue the dispute between the Government and the Roman Catholic Church as to the title to the military reservation of Vancouver Barracks. The Church claimed it under the title of the Mission of St. James. Our worthy subject was married in Virginia, February 8, 1869, to Miss Elizabeth Van Winkle, of New York State, a descendant of the early Dutch settlers. They have a family of six children: Arline, Elizabeth, Minnie McA., Thomas M., Charles Van Winkle and Irmingard. The Colonel is a member of the Masonic order and of the Sons of the American Revolution, as before mentioned. Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in September 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer * * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biographies.