General Tom Thumb

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The wedding party comprised, from left to right: George Washington Morrison Nutt (1844–1881), Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838–1883), Lavinia Warren Stratton (1841–1919), Minnie Warren (1841–1878).

For the similarly named governor of New Jersey, see Charles C. Stratton.

General Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), a midget who achieved great fame under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. Stratton was a son of a Bridgeport, Connecticut, carpenter. He was born and raised in Middleborough, Massachusetts.

Born to parents of medium height, he was ironically quite a large baby, weighing 9 pounds 2 ounces (4.14 kg) at birth. He developed and grew normally for the first six months of his life, at which point he was 25 inches (64 cm) long and weighed 15 pounds (6.8 kg). Then he stopped. His parents were concerned when after his first birthday they noticed he hadn't grown in the last six months. They showed him to their doctor, who offered little hope that he would ever reach normal height. His parents were reportedly embarrassed by his size. By late 1842, Charles Stratton hadn't grown an inch or put on any weight from when he was six months old. Otherwise he was a normal child. He had several siblings who were of average size.

At this time, Barnum heard about him and after reassuring his parents, he taught the boy how to sing, dance, mime, impersonate famous people and perform. Barnum also went into business with Stratton's father, who died in 1855. Barnum was actually a distant relative (half fifth cousin, twice removed)^[1]. In 1843, at the tender age of five years old, Tom Thumb made his first tour of America, with routines that included impersonating characters such as Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte as well as singing, dancing and comical banter with another performer who acted as a straight man. It was a huge success and the tour expanded.

A year later, Barnum took young Stratton on a tour of Europe making him an international celebrity. Stratton appeared twice before Queen Victoria. On one occasion, Stratton was attacked by Queen Victoria's pet poodle after a performance at Buckingham Palace ^[2].

To someone of Stratton's size, the dog would have seemed a large and threatening animal. He also met the three-year-old Prince of Wales, who would become King Edward VII, and shook hands with him. The Prince, who was of average height for his age, towered 12 inches over Stratton.

He continued to grow with noticeable slowness. By January 1851 Stratton stood 2 feet 3 inches (70 cm) tall. In 1856, on his 18th birthday, he was measured 2 feet 6 inches (76 cm) tall.

Stratton became a freemason on October 1, 1862. Stratton, by now 2 feet 9 inches tall, was sworn in with a man 6 feet 3 inches tall.

The wedding couple as they appeared on the February 21, 1863 cover of Harper's Weekly magazine.

Stratton's marriage on February 10, 1863, to another little person, Lavinia Warren, was front-page news. They stood atop a grand piano in New York City's Grace Episcopal Church to greet some 2,000 guests. The best man at the wedding was George Washington Morrison ("Commodore") Nutt, another midget performer in Barnum's employ. The maid of honor was Minnie Warren, Lavinia's even smaller sister. Following the wedding, the couple was received by President Lincoln at the White House. In 1868, Stratton was 2 feet 11 inches tall and finally reached 3 feet in the early 1870's.

Under Barnum's management, Stratton became a wealthy man. He owned a house in the fashionable part of New York and a steam yacht and had a wardrobe of fine clothes. He owned a specially adapted home on one of Connecticut's Thimble Islands. When Barnum got into financial difficulty, Stratton bailed him out. Later, they became business partners.

Grave at Mountain Grove Cemetery

On January 10, 1883, Stratton was staying at the Newhall House in Milwaukee when a fire began on the first floor. More than 71 people died in what Milwaukee historian John Gurda calls "one of the worst hotel fires in American history." Luckily, a burly police officer plucked Stratton off a window ledge and carried him to safety.

Six months later, he died of a stroke. He was 45 years old, 3 foot 4 inches (102 cm) tall and weighed 70 pounds (32 kg). He had become portly in later years and looked quite different from the tiny and slim person he was from his discovery right up to the late 1870's. Some say he had never fully recovered from his narrow escape from the hotel fire. Over 10,000 people attended the funeral. P.T. Barnum purchased a life-sized statue of Tom Thumb and placed it as a grave stone at Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport. Lavinia Warren is interred next to him with a simple grave stone that reads "His Wife".