Thorndike Deland Hodges was born on December 19, 1836, in Salem, Massachusetts, to John and Mary Hodges. His father earned a living as a merchant. He grew up and attended school in Salem, and he graduated from Harvard University in 1857. By 1860, he was working as a lawyer in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on July 26, 1862, and he mustered in as a sergeant in Company F of the 35^th Massachusetts Infantry on August 19. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 11 inches tall, with black hair and black eyes. The regiment took part in the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of Fredericksburg. He was promoted to 2^nd lieutenant in January 1863. Then, in April 1863, he was promoted to captain of Company C of the 35^th USCT Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Olustee and the Battle of Honey Hill. He resigned on January 10, 1866.

 

He returned to Haverhill after the war and resumed his work as a lawyer. He married Mary Bowen on April 25, 1867, and they had at least four children: Mabel, born on January 30, 1868; Charles, born on June 29, 1870; Fannie, born on July 14, 1872; and Richard, born on April 1, 1877. He served in the Massachusetts state legislature in 1868-1869. He moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey, in the 1870s. He applied for a federal pension in May 1887 and eventually received one. According to an early biographer, “failing health obliged the abandonment of his profession,” and he eventually moved to Topsfield, Massachusetts. He died there on June 6, 1900.

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