Thomas J. Henderson (politician)
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Thomas Jefferson Henderson (November 29, 1824 - February 6, 1911) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.
Born in Brownsville, Tennessee, Henderson moved with his parents to Illinois at the age of eleven. He pursued academic studies. He served as clerk of the Board of Commissioners of Stark County, Illinois from 1847 to 1849. He served as clerk of the court of Stark County 1849-1853. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1852 and commenced practice in Toulon, Illinois. He served as member of the State house of representatives in 1855 and 1856. He served in the State senate 1857-1860. He entered the Union Army in 1862 as colonel of the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Commanded Third Brigade, Third Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, from August 12, 1864, to the close of the war. He was brevetted brigadier general in January 1865. He resumed the practice of law. He moved to Princeton, Illinois, in 1867 and continued the practice of law. He was appointed collector of internal revenue for the fifth district of Illinois in 1871.
Henderson was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth and to the nine succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1895). He served as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs (Forty-seventh Congress), Committee on Rivers and Harbors (Fifty-first Congress). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1894. He was appointed member of the board of managers for the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in 1896. He was appointed civilian member on the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications in 1900 and served until his death in Washington, D.C., February 6, 1911. He was interred in Oakland Cemetery, Princeton, Illinois.
