Thomas J. Luttrell was born on June 10, 1839, in Richmond County, Virginia, to John and Nancy Luttrell. His father was a farmer who owned $2,500 of real estate by 1850. He grew up in Farnham, Virginia.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on May 22, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company B of the 40^th Virginia Infantry. The regiment took part in the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg. He was promoted to sergeant in October 1862, and he remained in the army until April 1865.

 

He moved to Washington, D.C., after the war and earned a living as a dry goods merchant. He applied successfully for a presidential pardon in May 1868. He married Elizabeth B. Hopkins on September 10, 1875, and they had at least two children: Mary, born around 1876; and Sadie, born around 1878. He supported the Democratic Party, and according to a local writer, he “actively engaged in local politics and…devoted his time and money to the cause.” He served as chairman of D.C.’s Democratic Central Committee from 1888 until 1892. He died of pneumonia in Washington, D.C., on January 2, 1894.

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