Hamp Thornton
Civil War River Pilot
Information comes from Thrills of the
Historic Ohio River by Frank Y Grayson;
published in the Cincinnati Times-Star 1929
There died on a farm in Kentucky, not very far from Cincinnati, a few years ago, one Hamp Thornton who, in his day, was one of the really noted pilots on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with the major part of his service performed on the latter stream. Hamp was a typical product of his times and his life on the river was packed with thrilling adventures, with just a spice of romance to make them palatable.
When the Ingomar was sold by its Southern owners to Northern business interests just before the outbreak of the Civil War, Hamp was engaged as a pilot. The steamer embarked on the hazardous career of blockade running on the Mississippi. Down South she steamed under the Stars and Bars while farther up the stream she flew the Stars and Stripes. Many of her cargoes were unloaded at Cairo and distributed among the Northern armies.
When Vicksburg was fortified, the Ingomar had considerable difficulty in getting past that city, and on numerous times she was fired upon by the shore batteries of heavy guns. She attempted to sneak past the batteries one night but encountered a Confederate gunboat which sent a shell through her hull and sunk in. Hamp leaped into the river, swam ashore, and hid in the canebrakes on the Louisiana side until daybreak, when he walked to a plantation.
At the mansion he asked for something to eat. Only the women of the household were at home, the men being away at the front. Hamp related the circumstances of his escape to them and although they were thoroughly Southern in their sympathies, they hid him in the attic of the house, as that region at the moment was fairly swarming with Confederate cavalry. Eventually he got through the Southern lines, but only by the expedient of changing clothes with a death Confederate soldier whose body he stumbled upon.
Crossing the river between Memphis and Helena he was captures by Federal troops, but released when he properly identified himself. He enlisted in the union army and was a participate in the bloody battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. On the field of battle Hamp came across a wounded young Confederate, who gave him a letter to be delivered to his mother. Hamp recognized the name and address as that of one of the women who protected him, so he lost little time in smuggling the letter to its destination.
When peace was declared, Hamp returned to Mississippi piloting and on one trip to New Orleans in 1866 he again met the ladies who had given him shelter, but no romance resulted. He kept on piloting boats until the infirmities of age drove him to realize the ambition of every good riverman, which was to some day own a patch of ground on which to raise vegetables.