Thornton Augustus Washington was born around 1826 in Jefferson County in present-day West Virginia. He grew up and attended school in Charles Town, West Virginia. He enrolled at the United States Military Academy in 1845, and he graduated four years later. In July 1849, he became a brevet 2^nd lieutenant in the 6^th United States Infantry. He spent the next few years in the Nebraska Territory and in Texas.

 

He was promoted to 1^st lieutenant in December 1855, and he served as an assistant instructor of infantry tactics at West Point from 1855 until 1856. He then returned to Texas, where he remained for the next five years. He married Olive Ann Jones on March 8, 1860, and they had at least five children: Flora, born around 1861; Thornton, born around 1863; Lea, born around 1865; Sarah, born around 1867; and Lawrence, born around 1859.

 

He resigned from the United States Army on April 8, 1861, to join the Confederacy. He received a commission as a captain, and he served as an assistant adjutant general on General Earl Van Dorn’s staff. He eventually earned a promotion to major.

 

He settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, after the war, and worked as a civil engineer. From 1880 until 1889, he served as a clerk in the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. He died there on July 10, 1894.

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