General Tom Thumb

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The wedding party comprised, from left to right: George Washington Morrison Nutt (1844–1881), Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838–1883), Lavinia Warren Stratton (1841–1919), Minnie Warren (1841–1878).

For the similarly named governor of New Jersey, see Charles C. Stratton.

General Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), a midget who achieved great fame under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. Stratton was a son of a Bridgeport, Connecticut, carpenter. He was born and raised in Middleborough, Massachusetts.

Born to parents of medium height, he was ironically quite a large baby, weighing 9 pounds 2 ounces (4.14 kg) at birth. He developed and grew normally for the first six months of his life, at which point he was 25 inches (64 cm) long and weighed 15 pounds (6.8 kg). Then he stopped. His parents were concerned when after his first birthday they noticed he hadn't grown in the last six months. They showed him to their Doctor, who offered little hope that he would ever reach normal height. His parents were reportedly embarrassed by his size. By late 1842, when Barnum heard about him, Charles Stratton hadn't grown an inch or put on any weight from when he was six months old. Otherwise he was a normal child. His brothers and sisters were around normal height as well.

After reassuring his parents, Barnum taught the boy how to sing, dance and perform.

In 1843 at the tender age of five years old, Tom Thumb made his first tour of America, with routines that included impersonating characters such as Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte as well as singing, dancing and comical banter with another performer who acted as straight man. It was a huge success and the tour expanded.

A year later, Barnum took young Stratton on a tour of Europe, making him an international celebrity. Stratton appeared twice before Queen Victoria. On one occasion, Stratton was attacked by Queen Victoria's pet poodle after a performance at Buckingham Palace [1]. At his size it would have seemed a large and threatening animal. He also met the three-year-old Prince of Wales who would become King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910 and shook hands with him. Despite the Prince's age and the fact he was of average height for his age, he towered 12 inches over Stratton.

He continued to grow with noticeable slowness. By January 1851 Stratton stood 2 feet 3 inches (70 cm) tall. In 1856 he was measured at 2 feet 6 inches tall. (76 cm).

He was a mason and was sworn in on October 1 1862. The person who was sworn in with Stratton, now 2 foot 9 inches tall, was 6 foot 3 inches tall and Stratton, standing at the side of him, stood a quarter of the way between his kneecaps and waist.

Stratton's marriage on February 10, 1863, to another midget, Lavinia Warren, was front-page news. They stood atop a grand piano in New York City's Grace Episcopal Church to greet some 2,000 guests. The best man at the wedding was George Washington Morrison ("Commodore") Nutt, another diminutive performer in Barnum's employ. The maid of honor was Minnie Warren, Lavinia's even smaller sister. Following the wedding, the couple was received by President Lincoln at the White House. In 1868 Stratton was 2 feet 11 inches tall and finally reached 3 feet in the early 1870's.

The wedding couple as they appeared on the February 21, 1863 cover of Harper's Weekly magazine.

Under Barnum's management Stratton became a wealthy man. He owned a house in the fashionable part of New York and a steam yacht and had a wardrobe of fine clothes. When Barnum got into financial difficulty Stratton who bailed him out; later they became business partners. Also, Barnum went in business with Stratton's father, who died in 1855.

On January 10, 1883, General Tom Thumb was staying at the Newhall House in Milwaukee when a fire began on the first floor. More than 71 people died in what Milwaukee historian John Gurda calls "one of the worst hotel fires in American history." Luckily, a burly police officer plucked the General off a window ledge and carried him to safety.

Stratton owned a specially adapted home on one of Connecticut's Thimble Islands. He died of a stroke at the age of 45, 3 foot 4 inches (102 cm) tall and weighing 70 pounds (32 kg), becoming portly. He looked quite different to the tiny and slim person he was displayed as being from his discovery right up the late 1870's.

Some say he never fully recovered from narrowly escaping the hotel fire six months before. Over 10,000 people attended the funeral. P.T. Barnum purchased a life-sized statue of Tom Thumb and placed it as a grave stone at Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport. Lavinia Warren is interred next to him with a simple grave stone that reads "His Wife".