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Thomas B. Ferguson

American diplomat (1841–1922)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ107360407 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Barker Ferguson (August 8, 1841 – August 11, 1922) was an American diplomat from South Carolina. He served as United States Ambassador to Sweden from 1894 to 1898.

Early life

Thomas Barker Ferguson was born on August 8, 1841, at his father's estate near Charleston, South Carolina, to James Ferguson. His grandfather was Thomas Ferguson, a member of the General Assembly of South Carolina.

Military career

Ferguson was a cadet with the South Carolina Military Academy (The Citadel), graduating in 1861. He was a member of the gun battery on Morris Island that fired on the Star of the West during the Battle of Fort Sumter. He served with the Confederate States Army as an engineer and directed the construction of batteries at Fort Sumter. At the age of 25, he was promoted to major and commanded an artillery unit in South Carolina and was present at five battles. He was shot in the lung on July 14, 1863, in Jackson, Mississippi. He commanded the first military district of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Thomas B. Ferguson” as american diplomat (1841–1922). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1841, 1922, 1894, 1898—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1841-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Thomas, Ferguson and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as american diplomat (1841–1922). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q107360407. VIAF identifies the subject as 309695007. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1841, 1922, 1894 and 1898.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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  2. Expand the search: follow Thomas B. Ferguson primary sources, Thomas B. Ferguson archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Thomas B. Ferguson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.