Thornton, James S.
Captain James S. Thornton, USN (1826-1875)
James Shepard Thornton was born in Merrimack, New Hampshire on 25 February 1826 and entered the Navy as a Midshipman in January 1841. Following duty in the frigate Columbia in the Home and Mediterranean Squadrons, he was assigned to the sloops of war John Adams and Falmouth, in which he served during the Mexican War. Beginning in late 1846 Thornton attended the U.S. Naval School at Annapolis, Maryland, and was promoted to the rank of Passed Midshipman in August 1847. He next served in the store ship Relief and in December 1848 was sent to Pacific coast for duty in the Coast Survey vessel Ewing. Thornton resigned from the service in May 1850, spent the next four years surveying gold fields in California and Utah, rejoined the Navy in February 1854 and again served in the Relief. Promoted to Acting Master in May 1855, he left the service later in that year but returned in January 1858 with the rank of Lieutenant and was once more assigned to the Relief.
When Lieutenant Thornton's tour on USS Relief ended in mid-1860 he served on the Receiving Ship at Boston until the beginning of the Civil War. From May to November 1861 he was an officer of the brig Bainbridge, operating on blockade duty in the Gulf of Mexico. Late in that year he became Executive Officer of the steam sloop Hartford, performing with distinction in her during the Mississippi River campaigns of 1862. Promoted to Lieutenant Commander in July, he commanded the gunboat Winona in the Gulf area during August and September 1862. In April 1863 he became Executive Officer of the steam sloop Kearsarge, cruising in European waters, and in her participated in the successful 19 June 1864 action against the Confederate cruiser Alabama. Thornton finished the Civil War as Commanding Officer of the gunboat Iosco, operating in the North Carolina Sounds.
From October 1865 Thornton had shore duty at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, and was promoted to the rank of Commander in mid-1866. He returned to USS Kearsarge as her Commanding Officer in July 1868, serving in her in the Pacific until November 1870, after which he was again assigned to the Portsmouth Navy Yard. In May 1872 Thornton achieved the rank of Captain and in August 1873 was ordered to command the steam sloop Monongahela on the South Atlantic Station. On 14 January 1875, Captain Thornton's spine was gravely injured when his ship made a sudden lurch, throwing him against cabin furniture. Left an invalid, he was ordered home in February and died of his injuries at Germantown, Pennsylvania, on 14 May 1875.
The Navy has named two ships in honor of Captain James S. Thornton, including: USS Thornton (Torpedo Boat # 33) of 1902-1920; and USS Thornton (Destroyer # 270, later DD-270 and AVD-11) of 1919-1945.
