Brigadier-General Thomas J. Thorp, U.S.V.

Brigadier-General Thomas T. Thorp is a grandson of revolutionary patriots on the side of both his mother and father. He was born in Granger, Allegany County, State of New York, in 1837, being a brother of the late Captain Alexander K. Thorp, who was killed in the great cavalry charge at Winchester, Virginia, September 19, 1864. Also a brother of the late Senator Simeon Montgomery Thorp, who was killed by the Confederate forces at the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, in 1863.

He was prepared to enter Union College at Alfred University, being a member of the class of 1861, but, entering the army at the breaking out of the great slaveholders' rebellion, he received his diploma in the field. In response to a call of President Lincoln, he enrolled himself in the company organized in his native town, which was finally assigned to the Eighty-fifth New York Regiment of Infantry, which entered the Army of the Potomac.

During the first Peninsular campaign he won honorable distinction as a captain at the battle of Fair Oaks, where he was wounded, and at the conclusion of the Seven Days' battle he was selected by Governor Morgan, of New York, to fill the position of lieutenant-colonel in the One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment, which was also attached to the Army of the Potomac in September, 1862.

This regiment was composed of the flower of the native-born yeomanry of Allegany, Livingston, and Wyoming Counties, and to hold an important position in that regiment required not only executive ability of the first order, but intelligence, courage, and devotion to the flag of an unquestioned character; for even in the ranks of this regiment were found men eminent in scholarship, representing all of the learned professions, and among the captains were found such men as the venerable and patriotic Rev. Dr. Joel Wakeman. The position of colonel was filled by an able officer selected from the regular army, who became a brigadier-general. The vacancy caused by his promotion was filled by Lieutenant-Colonel Thorp, who, for gallant and meritorious services on the field of battle, won his star also. General Thorp was married to the accomplished daughter of Colonel John Major during the war. The ceremony was novel as it was impressive and beautiful. It took place in the hollow square of his regiment, and was performed by one of his captains, the Rev. Dr. Wakeman. After the battle of Gettysburg the One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment was transferred to the cavalry corps by an order from the War Department, and designated as the First New York Dragoons. General Thorp rendered honorable services under every commander of the Army of the Potomac, from first to last, and was absent from the battle-field only when disabled by wounds, or during a very short period while a prisoner of war, after the battle of the Wilderness. At Trevilian Station he was severely wounded, made a prisoner of war, and sent to Macon, Georgia. While a prisoner of war he delivered an oration on the Fourth of July, which, doubtless, will never be forgotten for its fire and eloquence by the sixteen hundred officers who were also prisoners of war. This outburst of patriotic sentiment, uttered in the very heart of the Confederacy and in the very mouth of the cannon guarding the prisoners, was treated by the prison commander as insubordination, but it was characteristic of General Thorp, who, in the night, jumped from the train going from Savannah to Charleston in his effort to rejoin his command in front of Richmond.

General Thorp's home is in Oregon, located at the beautiful city of Forest Grove, the seat of the Pacific University, where his two children, Miss Bessie Maybelle and Stephen Montgomery Thorp, are being educated.

Source: Officers of the Volunteer Army and Navy who served in the Civil War, published by L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1893, 419 pgs.

Related Links:

• Civil War Records
• Civil War Microfilm at the National Archives
• Thorp Surname