Birth: unknown
Death: 1933
Sandusky
Erie County
Ohio, USA
Friends here have learned of the death of Captain Walter S. Thomas, one of the county's oldest citizens, which occurred at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home in Sandusky, Ohio. (Erie County)
He is survived by a widow and one son.
Burial was made here in the Catholic Cemetery.
(printed in Mansfield News, Mansfield, OHIO, 9/2/1933)
Inscription:
Captain 9th Battalion
Ohio Volunteer Infantry
In 1897, he entered a new period in his life when he joined the all-black 9th Battalion of the Ohio National Guard. As the unit was federalized during the Spanish American War, he was promoted to captain and quartermaster under the direct command of Col. Charles Young, the third black man to graduate from West Point and the first to attain that rank.
When Thomas left active service in 1899