Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh

Biography

Early life Thornburgh was born in New Market, Tennessee in Jefferson County. His father, Montgomery Thornburgh, was a Tennessee state senator and attorney general.

Civil War and aftermath

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Thornburgh fled to Kentucky and enlisted as a private in a brigade commanded by General George W. Morgan. In 1862, he joined what would eventually become the 4th Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He became commander of the unit following the resignation of Colonel Richard M. Edwards in July 1863. He saw action at the Battle of Okolona, and led one of the first units into Mobile, Alabama, after the city fell in 1865.

Thornburgh was appointed attorney general of the third judicial circuit of Tennessee in 1866, and was elected to this office in 1868 and 1870.

In the election of 1874, Leonidas C. Houk challenged Thornburgh for the Republican nomination for the 2nd District's seat. After a very competitive campaign, both candidates claimed the nomination, and both intended to run in the general election, which would have split the Republican vote and threaten the party's hold on the seat. Senator William G. Brownlow, by this time a revered figure among East Tennesseans, intervened on Thornburgh's behalf, and Houk withdrew, allowing Thornburgh to coast to an easy victory. Thornburgh ran unchallenged in 1876, and decided not to seek reelection in 1878.

Later life

Thornburgh largely retired from political life after 1879, although he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1880. He returned to Knoxville and formed a law partnership with Charles D. McGuffey (a nephew of William Holmes McGuffey, author of the McGuffey Readers), and later formed a partnership with future Supreme Court justice Edward Terry Sanford. In 1889, Thornburgh donated a large number of books to the burgeoning Lawson McGhee Library.

Thornburgh died on September 19, 1890, and was interred in Old Gray Cemetery. His daughter, Laura Thornburgh, was a journalist and author, perhaps best known for publishing one of the first hiking guides to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1937. His son, John Minnis Thornburgh, was a prominent Knoxville lawyer and Republican Party leader during the early 20th century.