Thomas Jefferson "Jeff" Beech was an American soldier who served in the Union Army's 82nd New York Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War.
Biography[]
Thomas Jefferson Beech was born in Munsons Corners, Cortland County, New York, the son of dairy farmers Abner Beech and M'Rye Beech. While his father was a staunch states' rights advocate and constitutional originalist who named his son after his political idol Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson became enamored with Esther Hagadorn, the daughter of Radical Republican and abolitionist Jehoiada Hagadorn, during the American Civil War. She persuaded him to stop going by "Jeff" and start going by "Tom" to differentiate himself from Confederate president Jefferson Davis, and Thomas gradually became alienated from his parents and his old friend Jimmy Hurley, all of whom were Copperheads. Beech enlisted in the 82nd New York Infantry Regiment in 1862 and was wounded and captured at Miller's Cornfield during the Battle of Antietam; his friend Ray Hare was killed and Warner Pitts wounded. Beech was held prisoner in Richmond, Virginia until his neighbor Benaiah Hagadorn came to the South to secure his exchange for a Confederate prisoner, and he returned home to find his home burned down by Radicals in a post-election riot and Jehoiada Hagadorn dead by suicide, having mistakenly believed that his daughter died in the farm fire. Thomas reconciled with his family and renewed his relationship with Esther.