164
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
cation at the Ebcnczer Academy of Bruns-
wick county, Virginia, the Leesburg Acad-
emy of North Carolina, and Randolph-
Macon College, Virginia, from which col-
lege in 1848 he graduated with the degree
of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1850 with that of
Master of Arts. After leaving Randolph-
Macon College he entered the University of
\'irginia, and graduated therefrom with the
degree of Doctor of Medicine. He subse-
quently studied in the JefTerson Medical
College of Philadelphia and in the Pennsyl-
vania Hospital, from both of which institu-
tions he received the degree of Doctor of
Medicine. In 185 1 he came to Petersburg,
Virginia, and began the practice of his pro-
fession. On April 19. 1861, he joined the
Confederate army as assistant surgeon, with
the rank of captain. He was soon promoted
tc be surgeon and major, and attached to
the Twelfth Virginia Regiment of Infantry.
While in the field he was elected to the
senate of Virginia, a position which he was
ordered to accept by Juda P. Benjamin, the
secretary of war. In accordance with this
Older, he entered the senate, but resigned
immediately, and reported again for field
duty. He was then sent to Petersburg,
where he organized the general hospital,
and where he remained until the city was
occupied by General Lee in 1864, when he
was made surgeon-in-chief of all general
military hospitals, a position which he filled
until the evacuation of the city of Peters-
burg on the 2nd of April, 1865. During the
siege of Petersburg he was severely wound-
ed, and was captured just before the sur-
render at Appomattox. In 1855 he had been
elected to the house of delegates, and in
1857 he was elected to the senate of Vir-
ginia, where he served until the outbreak of
the war. He was a member of the Medical
Society of Virginia, and an honorary fellow,
having been also its president ; a fellow of
the American Medical Association, the
Southern Surgical and Gynecological Asso-
ciation, and a corresponding fellow of the
Gynecological Association of Boston ; a fel-
low of the Victoria Institute of Great Brit-
ain, and of the International Medical Asso-
ciation ; also fellow of the American Health
Association, and an honorary alumnus of
the University Aledical College of Virginia.
He was vice-president of the Medical Asso-
ciation of the Confederate Army and Navy,
1876. He wrote much upon medical sub-
jects, was always a student of literature,
and did much to preserve the history of the
old regime in Virginia. Among his best
known articles • may be mentioned, "The
Last Seven Days of Lee and His Paladins,"
"Seventy-Five Years in Old Virginia," "The
Negro in the Environments of Slavery," and
"The Old Virginia Doctor." In 1853 he mar-
ried Sarah Joseph Alston. In i860 he mar-
ried (second) Anne Leslie Watson.
Thornton, John Thruston, familiarly known as "Jack Thornton." was born in Cumberland county, Virginia, in 1829, son of Col. John Thornton, of Hanover county, and Sarah, his wife, daughter of Charles Mynn Thruston. He attended the private schools of his native county, the University of Virginia, from which he graduated in 1844 with the degree of Bachelor of Law. one of the first men of the class; engaged in the practice of his profession for a short time, then engaged in editorial work ; wrote with strength and cleverness, and early es- tablished the reputation of being one of the leaders of thought in the state; was also one
