Historical Marker of the Week: "Tommygun" Inventor

by Josh



"Tommygun" Inventor
Marker Number 1706:

Brig. Gen. John T. Thompson, USA, inventor of Thompson submachine gun, was born here in 1860. A West Point graduate of 1882, he was early advocate of automatic weapons and improved many small arms. Awarded Distinguished Service Medal as Director of Arsenals in World War I. General Thompson died in 1940, lamenting the notoriety of the Tommygun as a gangster weapon.

I picked this marker to talk about because recently, we lost the concert venue that this marker sat in front of: The Southgate House. I was going to share my many pictures I have taken of The Southgate House but apparently, they only exist in my mind. I am not sure how I visited a place so often and yet, have not one single decent picture of it on my flickr.


Photo by Jasmine Cupp and not myself.

The Southgate House was my favorite concert venue. It was one of the few places that, when I found a favorite band was playing there, I did not follow with "ugh." I am not even for sure why I liked it so much. It was smokey and often overly packed. However, it was in Kentucky, despite a band's listing on their website as playing in Cincinnati, so bonus points right there.

But enough about the Southgate House as a concert venue and let's go back to the Southgate House as the birthplace of John Taliaferro Thompson.

That rare combination of inventor/model.

He was born on Dec. 31 1860 to Lt. Col. James Thompson and Julia Maria Taliaferro.

Taliaferro inherited the house from her mother who inherited it from her father, Richard Southgate. Richard Southgate in his lifetime was everything from a lawyer to a State Representative to a Senator. Also, he is where Southgate, KY got its name.

John T. Thompson's Father, Col. James Thompson, fought for the Union in the Civil War at Glendale and Chickamauga. Chickamauga was a terrible defeat and Glendale is viewed sort of as a tie. I would like to think that his father's involvement in two less than stellar battles for the Union somehow influenced young John into inventing a weapon that would give his team (whatever that may be) a better advantage.

The point is, John T. Thompson came from a fairly well-off and well-known family. With his father being in the military, John grew up on several army posts. He eventually graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1882.

Try to find him because it would save me the trouble, heh.

His first post after graduating was back in familiar territory in Kentucky, serving at the Newport Barracks (July 16, 1882 - Jan. 4, 1884).

The barracks circa 1860

Thompson was sent to Tampa, FL and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel at the start of the Spanish American War. It was during this war that he saw the necessity to create a weapon that would fire at a faster rate, creating a superior firearm.

He was made chief of the Small Arms Division for the Ordnance Department after the war. There, he helped oversee the development of a new type of pistol and rifle.



The M1903 Springfield being the rifle.

Before America got involved in World War I, Thompson was already part of the fight. Having retired from the Army, he took a position as Chief Engineer of The Remington Arms Company. He recognized the need for small arms in the upcoming war and also the potential to make a bit of a profit.

A couple years after the beginning of the war, he began experimenting in earnest on automatic small arms. With financial support from the Auto-Ordnance Company, he began work that would eventually become his most well-known creation, the Thompson submachine gun AKA the "Tommy Gun."

In 1917, when the US joined World War I, he came out of retirement and rejoined the Army and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. After the war, he again retired and finally perfected his invention.

Unfortunately, though fortunately for us, when he finished his Thompson submachine gun, there was not much of a market because World War I was not over. Yes, it was a high speed, lightweight weapon that was much better than the popular Gatling guns, but when there where no trenches to sweep it, was a hard sale.

He did sell quite a few to law enforcement but sales were only modest. Eventually the Auto-Ordnance Company had to replace him as their head.

John T. Thompson Thompson died at the age of 79 on June 21, 1940. He never got to see the sudden rise of popularity (and cash flow) that his weapon would have during World War II. However, he was around during prohibition, when his weapon was used by the gangsters of the day and then popularized in many popular films of the time (usually starring James Cagney) such as Little Caesar, G Men, and Scarface.

The other one, of course.

Today, the Thompson submachine gun is not in popular real world use but his invention helped pave the way for many rapidly firing weapons. However, in pop culture, John T. Thompson and his "Tommy Gun" live on.

A Kentuckian's invention being held in the hand of a Kentucky born actor in a big "Hollywood" production. Could it get sweeter than that?