Butler County, Alabama - Chapter 22, 1885

This distinguished citizen was born at Clinton, Jones County, Georgia, August 4, 1824. The Bayne family were among the original settlers of the eastern shore of Maryland, and in Virginia. John Bayne, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, removed, when quite young, into Georgia, at an early period in the settlement of that State. He was prominently identified with the early history of Georgia, and represented Jones County in the State Legislature for sixteen years successively. His son, Charles Bayne, was married to a daughter of Charles Bowen, a well-known planter of Jones County, and both parents died at an early age, while their son, Thomas L. Bayne, was quite a child. On the death of his parents, he passed under the control of his maternal uncle. Colonel Edward Bowen, of Butler County, Alabama, a gentleman of high character and intelligence, who spared no trouble nor expense in obtaining the best teachers for his nephew, who was reared as one of his own family.

of Dublin University, Ireland, and a most accomplished scholar, who prepared him for college, and to whose thorough scholarship Mr. Bayne attributes much of his subsequent success. He entered Yale College, Hartford, Connecticut, September, 1843, and graduated with distinction in the class of 1847. He received at the hands of the Faculty, the high appointment of valedictorian for his class at Commencement, B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, being his competitor. He was also President of the Calliopian Society at Yale College. After graduation, he returned to Alabama. Shortly, he went to New Orleans, where he studied law under Thomas Allen Clarke, a distinguished lawyer of that city, then associated with Thomas Slidell, afterward Chief- Justice of Louisiana.

Mr. Bayne was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1850, and after remaining for some time in Mr. Clarke's office, became his partner in the following year. In 1852 and 1853, he became Acting City Attorney of New Orleans, as a substitute for Thomas R. Wolfe, during that gentleman's absence from the city in the summers of those two years. In 1862, he went into active military service, as a private, in the Fifth Company of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, which was largely composed of gentlemen of high social standing ; the members were elected by ballot - a small number of votes excluding. Mr. Bayne served with this gallant company in the Southwest, until after the battle of Shiloh, at which he was severely wounded, being shot through the right arm while serving one of the guns, and was consequently disabled from further immediate service.

Brigadier-General Randall L. Gibson, who had studied law in Mr. Bayne's office, offered him, prior to the battle of Shiloh, a position on his staff, which was declined, the general tone and spirit of the Fifth Company at that early period of the war being against accepting any position which would separate its members. Mr. Bayne returned to New Orleans, and when, in April, 1862, Commodore Farragut's fleet arrived in front of that city, he left for South Carolina.

After locating his family, and remaining sufficiently long to recover from his wound, he left for Richmond, Virginia, where he was appointed Captain of Artillery, and assigned to ordnance duty with his brother-in-law, General Josiah Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance in the Confederate service. He was afterward promoted to Major, and subsequently to Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery, and was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Foreign Supplies, reporting directly to the Secretary of War.

When it became necessary to evacuate Richmond, Colonel Bayne left with the other officers of the Government for Danville, Virginia, where he remained until the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomatox, and from thence he removed to Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Confederate Government was virtually dissolved.

When the war was over, Colonel Bayne returned to New Orleans, where he resumed the practice of his profession with his former partner, Thomas Allen Clarke. Colonel Bayne has never been a candidate for any political position, but has always actively discharged his duties as a citizen. Like most of the officers of the army, he accepted the war as closed in 1865, and at once addressed himself to the restoration of his own means and to the revival of the prosperity of his State.

Colonel Bayne was married, December, 1853, to Maria Gayle, a daughter of Hon. John Gayle, formerly Governor of Alabama, Member of Congress from the Mobile District, and Judge of United States District Court.

Butler County was his home during his boyhood and college life, and we recognize him as belonging to this county, and his noble life makes a part of its history. With affectionate familiarity, we recall him as one of the triumvirate - Tom Watts, Tom Judge, and Tom Bayne. He still lives in New Orleans, engaged in a successful practice, and has fond recollections of the happy youthful days spent in Butler.