Naming The Jeff Thompson Suite


With the help of my history-focused brother, Bill, I have finally come up with names for each of the three under-construction suites being added to Lesmeister Guesthouse. I’ll report on one suite in this blog post, and the other two in future posts.

Confederate General Jeff Thompson
Confederate General Jeff Thompson

I’ve named the all-on-one-level suite that opens onto Marr Street the Jeff Thompson Suite, (see the suite floor plan below) for Confederate General Jeff Thompson, who was captured by Union forces just around the corner from the Lesmeister building, on the Pocahontas town square, August 27, 1863.

Meriwether Jeff Thompson was born in 1826 at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) into a family with a strong military tradition on both sides of the family. At the time the Civil War broke out, Thompson was serving with the Missouri State Militia in command of the swampy area of southeast Missouri. Know as The Missouri Swamp Fox, Thompson chose to enter the Confederate Army, and he was working out of the St. Charles Hotel on the Pocahontas court square at the time of his capture.

For the full and fascinating story of the capture, see these two previous blog posts on Thompson:

http://www.new.arkansasguesthouse.com/pocahontas-and-the-civil-war-3/

http://www.new.arkansasguesthouse.com/pocahontas-and-the-civil-war-4/

Click to enlarge...
Click to enlarge…

2 Replies to “Naming The Jeff Thompson Suite”

  1. Patrick Carroll

    The other two suites will be named for Pocahontas-connected people just as prominent, or more so! Stay tuned.

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