The Tallest Man in the Civil War

by Michelle Shocklee

I know a thing or two about tall people. Although at 5'6" I'm considered average height for a woman, my men, on the other hand, are not average at all. Take a gander at my gang below! Hubby is 6'8. Youngest son is 6'6". Oldest son is 6'10". Yes, they all played basketball. No, the air isn't any better "up there." Yes, they get tired of telling strangers how tall they are. No, it isn't easy to find clothing that fits. 😵

Back in the 1800s, a fellow by the name of Henry Clay Thruston probably received a lot of the same questions my guys get today. But back then, the world didn't have NBA players on TV who are often well over 7 feet tall, making us all aware that being tall isn't quite as unusual as it used to seem.

Let me tell you a tall tale. (Heehee, I couldn't resist.😂)

Henry Clay Thruston (center)
Public Domain

Henry Clay Thruston was born on May 4, 1830 in South Carolina. His father, Street Thruston, served in the American Revolution. It is said that his grandfather was well over seven feet tall. Henry had four brothers, all of them over 6'6". However, at somewhere between 7'2" and 7'7" (no one can agree on how tall he really was), Henry was by far the tallest. The family moved to Missouri in 1833. Wanting to try his hand at panning for gold, Thruston traveled to California in 1850. Whether he struck it rich or not remains to be seen. He returned to Missouri via the Isthmus of Panama, then Cuba, and then back to Missouri a few years later. In 1853, he married a distant cousin, Mary Thruston, and they had four children. 

We don't know what type of work Thruston did prior to the war, but when the Civil War errupted, it is clear he had Southern sympathies. He enlisted in George Butler’s Morgan County Rangers of the Missouri State Guard (MSG), a state militia organized by the Missouri legislature that fought with various Confederate forces. Thruston participated in several battles with Butler, then joined the Missouri Fourth Calvary and served under General John Sappington Marmaduke. He participated in the Camden Expedition and was wounded in the side at Poison Spring on April 18, 1864. He was also engaged in fighting at Jenkins’ Ferry. Thruston concluded his Civil War career by fighting in General Sterling Price’s Missouri Raid in 1864. 

Interesting note: It is said that during one of the battles, a cease-fire was briefly called so Henry Clay could have his picture taken with David V. Buskirk, one of the tallest men in the Union army at 6'10". 

Henry Clay Thruston (right)
Public Domain

When Thruston's military career came to an end at Shreveport, Louisiana in June 1865, he walked home to Missouri. In 1871, Thruston and his family moved to Texas to farm. It wasn't long, however, when he received an offer from P.T. Barnum & Bailey for a job only he could do: travel the country with the circus as The World's Tallest Man (which may or may not have been true at the time) and as The Texas Giant. When the circus held shows in the South, Henry draped the Stars & Bars over his shoulders. If they were in the North, he'd dress up as Uncle Sam. 

Like most tall people, he had his limits when it came to jokes at his expense. A much shorter man is said to have asked him that dreaded question, “How’s the weather up there?” (My guys get that one a lot!) Thruston let fly a large ball of spit at the man and then said, “It’s raining!” Oh my!

Henry Clay died on July 2, 1909 from a massive heart attack. Following his death, an editorial in the Mount Vernon (Texas) Optic Herald read: “He was our friend and we shall miss his cheering words and hearty handshake. Colonel Thruston was a kind and generous friend, a citizen of strong prejudices, and intense patriotism. His family loses a devoted father and we extend to them heartfelt sympathy in their dark hour of bereavement.” Thruston is buried in Mount Pleasant, Texas.

Henry Clay Thruman, Public Domain

Your turn: Tell me how tall you are! Would you want to be taller or shorter, or are you just right? 

Michelle Shocklee is the author of several historical novels, including Count the Nights by Stars, winner of the 2023 Christianity Today Book Award, and Under the Tulip Tree, a Christy Awards and Selah Awards finalist. Her work has been included in numerous Chicken Soup for the Soul books, magazines, and blogs. Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of two grown sons, she makes her home in Tennessee, not far from the historical sites she writes about. Visit her online at www.MichelleShocklee.com

               COUNT THE NIGHTS BY STARS

*2023 Christianity Today Book Award Winner*

1961. After a longtime resident at Nashville’s historic Maxwell House Hotel suffers a debilitating stroke, Audrey Whitfield is tasked with cleaning out the reclusive woman’s room. There, she discovers an elaborate scrapbook filled with memorabilia from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Love notes on the backs of unmailed postcards inside capture Audrey’s imagination with hints of a forbidden romance . . . and troubling revelations about the disappearance of young women at the exposition. Audrey enlists the help of a handsome hotel guest as she tracks down clues and information about the mysterious “Peaches” and her regrets over one fateful day, nearly sixty-five years earlier.
https://www.tyndale.com/p/count-the-nights-by-stars/9781496459930