He was a gallant soldier in the Civil War, joining Company F, 38th Virginia Regiment in 1861, at 17 years of age, and was commissioned lieutenant in 1862. He was wounded in the leg at Manassas, in the arm at Seven Pines, and lost an eye and was left on the field for dead while following the noble Armistead in the famous Pickett charge at Gettysburg. Only the timely arrival of Col. Joseph Cabell, who held him on his own horse and led him off the field of carnage, saved his life at that great battle. In 1864 he resigned as lieutenant in Lee's Army and joined an artillery company under Gen. Joe Johnson, with whom he surrendered near Wilmington, NC in 1865.
Robert was living with parents Francis and Hulda in northern Halifax County, Virginia, in 1860, prior to enlisting in Company F on June 4, 1861. That record estimated his birth as 1844 in Virginia.
Robert married Mary Ella Carr on August 14, 1878 in Halifax, Virginia.
Their first child Effie was born on July 11, 1879 in Halifax.
At the time of the 1880 census of Staunton, Halifax, taken on June 10, Robert and Mary still had the one child, Effie. Robert's occupation farmer.
On February 16, 1883, young son Jesse M. Thornton died. He was noted as less than a year old in the record.
Unfortunately, Mary passed away on January 17, 1888 in Halifax at the young age of 35.
The June 1900 census of Halifax, Virginia offers much information. It shows Robert was living with his sister-in-law Sarah Emma Carr Thornton. Sarah was now the widow of Robert's half-brother Felix. Additionally, Sarah was a sister of Robert's wife Mary Ella Carr. Robert's son John F. Thornton was also in the home.
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