Christopher Quarles Tompkins
First Lieutenant Tompkins was commissioned a Captain in June 1846. From 1846 until 1847, Captain Tompkins traveled to California on board the U.S.S. Lexington. He was assigned garrison duty in Monterey, California, during the Mexican War until his resignation in September 1847.
Upon his return to Richmond, Virginia, he became involved with iron manufacture. He continued his involvement with the military first as a Captain and then as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Virginia State Militia from 1848 until 1853. From 1855 until 1861, Christopher Quarles Tompkins was a Superintendent of Collieries and a mining agent in Kanawha and Fayette Counties, West Virginia.
He resumed his involvement with the military soon after the outbreak of the Civil War as the Commanding Colonel of the Virginia volunteer forces in Kanawha Valley, West Virginia (3rd Virginia Infantry Kanawha Regiment). He became a Colonel in the 22nd Virginia Infantry, but resigned in November 1861.
NOVEMBER 1,2,3 COTTON HILL. General Floyd has moved to occupy the heights over the Gauley River, know as Cotton Hill. From here his artillery can stike at the river and turnpike below, including the yankee camp at Gauley Mount, Christopher Tompkins home and farm. Floyd orders the shelling and Tompkins complains that the shelling is ineffective, and could injure his family, still at Gauley Mount. Tompkins promptly resigns when Floyd continues the shelling. Tompkins had already contacted General Jacob Cox, also a Master Mason, for protection of his family and farm from looting by his Ohio yankees.
For the remainder of his life, Christopher Quarles Tompkins was involved with coal mining in Richmond, Virginia. He took the oath of allegiance in 1865. Christopher Quarles Tompkins was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
Master Mason
