Thaddeus P. Mott
| Thaddeus P. Mott | |
|---|---|
Capt. Thaddeus P. Mott as commanding officer of the 14th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry, c. 1863.
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| Born |
December 7, 1831 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | November 23, 1894 (aged 62) Toulon, France |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Military officer |
| Known for | Adventurer, world sailor and soldier of fortune; recruited Civil War veterans into Egyptian service and served as the first aide-de-camp to Khedive Isma'il Pasha. |
| Spouse(s) | Emily Josephine Daunton (m. 1858–93) |
| Children | Valentine Mott Marie Louise Mott |
| Parent(s) | Valentine Mott and Louisa D. Munn |
Thaddeus Phelps Mott (December 7, 1831 – November 23, 1894) was a 19th-century American adventurer, sailor and soldier of fortune. A former Union Army officer during American Civil War, he also took part in wars in Mexico, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire. He was primarily responsible for recruiting former Union and Confederate soldiers for service in the Egyptian Army, in which he held the rank of major general, and was the first officer to take service with the Khedive Isma'il Pasha as his aide-de-camp in 1870. At the time of his death, he was also the last surviving son of the eminent surgeon Valentine Mott.
Mott was born in New York City, New York, the son of Dr. Valentine Mott (1785–1865) and Louisa Dunmore Munn. He was one of nine children born to the couple. Little is known of his early life except that, as a child, he "developed a spirit of adventure". He was a natural linguist and was educated at New York University where his father was emeritus professor of surgery.
At age 17, he left the country to fight in revolutionary Italy, commissioned as a second lieutenant, serving under Giuseppe Garibaldi. Suffering from ill health following his Italian service, mostly due to exposure and privation, Mott subsequently served as a shipmate on various clipper ships during the next several years. He initially signed on to the Hornet bound for California, then as a third mate on the Hurricane in 1851, a second mate on the St. Denis in 1852 and the mate of the St. Nicholas in 1854. He returned to California a year later and spent 1856–57 in the Mexican Army under General Ignacio Comonfort prior to and during the Reform War. In 1858, he married Emily Josephine Daunton and had two children with her, Marie Louise and Valentine Mott.
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