Thaddeus P. Mott

Thaddeus Phelps Mott (December 7, 1831 – November 23, 1894) was an 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. Biography Early life and military career 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 clippers 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 1856–1857 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.