Thomas Lowndes Snead was a Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 soldier and politician who served in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

Biography

Born in Henrico County, Virginia

Henrico County, Virginia

Henrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, Snead graduated from Richmond College

University of Richmond

The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...

 in 1846 and the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

 in 1848 before studying law. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, in 1850 and eventually became a newspaperman, serving as owner and editor of the St. Louis Bulletin from 1860 until February 1861. From February through early May 1861 Snead also acted as a (civilian) aide and secretary to Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson

Claiborne Fox Jackson

Claiborne Fox Jackson was a lawyer, soldier, and Democratic politician from Missouri. He was the 15th Governor of Missouri in 1861, then governor-in-exile for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.-Early life:...

.

Upon the enactment of Missouri's May 1861 "Military Bill" Snead was appointed aide-de-camp

Aide-de-camp

An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

 to Governor Jackson and commissioned an officer in the Missouri State Guard

Missouri State Guard

The Missouri State Guard was a state militia organized in the state of Missouri during the early days of the American Civil War. While not initially a formal part of the Confederate States Army, the State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at times, under regular Confederate...

. He participated in the Battles of Boonville

Battle of Boonville

The First Battle of Boonville was a minor skirmish of the American Civil War, occurring on June 17, 1861, near Boonville in Cooper County, Missouri. Although casualties were extremely light, the battle's strategic impact was far greater than one might assume from its limited nature...

, Carthage

Battle of Carthage (1861)

-References:* Lee, Guy Carlton, and Francis Newtun Thorpe, editors. The History of North America. Philadelphia: George Barrie and Sons, 1905.* Monhegan, Jay. Civil War on the Western Border: 1854-1865. Boston: Little, Brown, 1956.*...

, Wilson's Creek

Battle of Wilson's Creek

The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, early in the American Civil War. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes...

, and Lexington during the fight against Union

Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 forces for control of the state. After the Missouri State Guard was merged into the Confederate Army, Snead served as chief of staff for General Sterling Price

Sterling Price

Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...

's Army of the West.

He was elected as a Representative from Missouri to the Second Confederate Congress

Second Confederate Congress

The Second Confederate Congress was the second and last regular term of the legislature of the Confederate States of America. Members of the Second Confederate Congress were chosen in elections held at various dates in 1863 and 1864...

 in May, 1864.

After the end of the war, Snead moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and worked as an editor for the Daily News from 1865 to 1867. He was admitted to the New York bar association

Bar association

A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...

 in 1866. He wrote a book, The Fight for Missouri, which was meant to be the first volume in a history of the war's trans-Mississippi theater

Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War

The Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War was the major military and naval operations west of the Mississippi River. The area excluded the states and territories bordering the Pacific Ocean, which formed the Pacific Coast Theater of the American Civil War.The campaign classification...

. The book was published by Charles Scribner's Sons

Charles Scribner's Sons

Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...

 in 1886. Snead died suddenly of heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

 at his home on October 17, 1890, at age 62. His body was returned to St. Louis and buried there in Bellefontaine Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, one son, and one daughter.