Thomas Newton

He was a student at the University of Virginia 1834-35, the second year in the medical school, then attended the Pennsylvania Medical College, Philadelphia and graduated with an MD in 1837. He studied in Europe two years, then practiced in Philadelphia for three. He returned home to Norfolk and opened a practice there in about 1842. In 1861 he served, at least briefly, as Surgeon of the 6th Virginia Infantry, but resigned over some injustice he felt. In April 1862 he volunteered again and mustered as Private in Company F, 6th Virginia Infantry on 22 April 1862 in Norfolk.

He was mortally wounded and captured in action at Crampton's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862.

He was paroled to a house nearby in Burkittsville, MD, and was tended by his family, but died of wounds there on 13 March 1863.

Service and other details from Michael A. Cavanaugh's 6th Virginia Infantry (1988) via the Historical Data Systems database. Personal details from a sketch in Rev. J.L. Johnson's The University Memorial: Biographical Sketches of Alumni of the University of Virginia Who Fell in the Confederate War (1871). His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He was cousin to Union Brigadier General John Newton, whose Brigade was opposite the 6th Virginia at Crampton's Gap; it is is likely he who got Thomas paroled per John Hoptak's The Battle of South Mountain (2011).

02/02/1816; Norfolk, VA

03/13/1863; Burkittsville, MD; burial in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Norfolk, VA