Colonel Robert Montgomery Thornburgh

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57195847/robert-montgomery-thor...

Son of Thomas Tipton Thornburgh and Eliza Wilson Clarke. Attended the Dartmouth Medical School and joined the U.S. Army in 1901. His progress through the ranks looks like: Assistant Surgeon 1901, Captain Medical Corps, 1906, Major, 1910, and Lieutenant Colonel, 1917. He commanded the Letterman Hospital, Presidio of San Francisco in 1919 as a Colonel. Thornburgh Road in the Presidio is named for him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thomas Tipton Thornburgh was born in 1843 in New Market, Tennessee. He had married Eliza Jane Clark and they were the parents of one son, Robert Montgomery Thornburgh. Major Thornburgh was in charge of a fort in Rio Blanco County, Colorado near where the "Thornburgh Massacre" occurred on the White River Indian Agency.

Born 13 March 1872 at Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska, the son of Thomas Tipton Thornburgh and Eliza Wilson Clark Thornburgh. Married to Florence E. Carroll 28 April 1895.

Street names at the Presidio read like a history of the old post. Edie Road was named for Colonel Guy L. Edie who served as the Commanding Officer of Letterman Hospital during World War I. Kendall Road was named for Major William P. Kendall, the Commanding Officer of Letterman Hospital from 1901 to 1904. During his administration the original hospital was built. Thornburgh Road was named for Colonel Robert M. Thornburgh, the Commanding Officer of Letterman in 1919. He served in the Philippines, Mexico, and France. Gorgas Avenue was named for Colonel William Gorgas, the Chief Sanitary Officer of the Panama Canal Commission from 1904 to 1913. Through mosquito control, he suppressed yellow fever and made the canal's completion possible.

Courtesy of the Thornburgh Family Newsletter:

Robert M. Thornburgh caught my attention, so I checked with the folks at Dartmouth to see if they had any information or details they could share about him. That turned into a gold mine!

Some of the most interesting details about Robert:

His father Thomas Tipton Thornburgh was a Major in the regular army, and was killed in an Indian massacre. From 1908 to 1910 he served at the military prison, Alcatraz Island, San Francisco. 1916 For two months was the temporary Chief of Surgical Staff at Walter Reed Hospital, Washington. Through his military career, was stationed in The Philippines, France, China and Mexico. His only son Thomas T. Thornburgh was a West Point graduate. He died when the car he was riding in collided with a bus. Supreme Justice Henry A. Melvin delivered a short address at his funeral. Buried in Arlington National Cemetery.