Thomas Bell was born around 1837 in Tennessee to Walter and Elizabeth Bell. His father was a farmer who owned $3,300 of real estate and $17,500 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Springfield, Tennessee, and by 1860, he was working as a clerk.
He sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. In October 1861, he received a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in Company H of the 30th Tennessee Infantry. Union forces captured him at Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862, and imprisoned him at Johnson’s Island in Ohio. He was eventually exchanged, and he rejoined the regiment. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant in September 1862. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chickamauga and the Atlanta campaign. He was wounded in July 1864, and he died of pneumonia near La Grange, Georgia, on August 15, 1864.