From: Confederate Military History Extended Edition.  Edited by Gen. 
Clement A. Evans of Georgia.  Wilmington, NC. Broadfoot Publishing 
Company, 1987; pages 279-280.

ADDITIONAL SKETCHES ILLUSTRATING THE SERVICES OF OFFICERS AND 
PRIVATES AND PATRIOTIC CITIZENS OF WESTERN VIRGINIA.

*MARTIN THORNTON*

Martin Thornton, during the past quarter century a resident of 
Wheeling, W. Va., enlisted as a Confederate soldier at the age of 
fifteen years, and gave four years of his youth to the cause of 
Southern independence. He is a native of Ireland, born in 1845, the 
son of John and Mary (Needham) Thornton. The mother dying in her 
native land, the father brought his children to America in 1850, and 
settled first at Cynthiana, Ky., and later at Parkersburg, W. Va., 
where he was engaged as a railroad contractor until his death in 
1856. Before the Confederate struggle began, Martin Thornton was 
learning in a humble station some of the lessons of hotel management 
which led to his success in later life, but in the spring of 1861 he 
went to Arkansas and enlisted as a Confederate soldier in General 
Hindman's legion. Later he became a member of the Third Confederate 
regiment, Cleburne's division, Hardee's corps, a gallant command 
which under its famous generals made itself felt in all the great 
battles of the West and central South. He served as a private during 
the four years of war, was in all the great battles of his commands, 
was wounded in the left arm at Perryville, Ky., and finally 
surrendered with Hardee and Johnston after the battle of Bentonville, 
N. C. After the close of hostilities he embarked in the grocery 
business at Atlanta, Ga., and three years later removed to 
Louisville, where he was engaged in the same line of trade until 
1873. He then sold out his business at Louisville in order to make a 
venture in the restaurant business at Wheeling, W. Va. His fine 
business tact and skillful management gave him success from the 
start, and within fifteen years from the time he arrived at Wheeling 
with a capital of $600 he had purchased the Brunswick hotel for 
$16,000, and was the owner of other valuable property.  He continued 
in restaurant and hotel management for twenty-one years, with 
constant success and popularity. 


(Linda Fluharty)