The Men of Randolph-Macon College and the Civil War

In 1861, talk of secession transformed into armed conflict. Many of the men educated at Randolph-Macon College in the preceding 29 years immediately responded to the calls of their state militias to serve, while others later enlisted or were conscripted into the Confederate or Union armies. Others served in public office, or were ultimately drawn into the conflict in the last days in reserve units in local defense. These are their stories.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Jefferson Waite Duffey, student 1867-1870

JEFFERSON WAITE DUFFEY attended Randolph-Macon College after the Civil War, from 1867-1870.

On May 1, 1864 at age 16, he enlisted as a private in McNeill’s Rangers, an independent irregular military company. This partisan ranger company was involved in guerilla warfare in western Virginia and West Virginia, and was known for daring raids on railroad lines, Union supply shipments and federal camps. In February, 1865, the Rangers captured two Union Major Generals, George Crook and Benjamin Kelley, spiriting them out of downtown Cumberland, MD., a railroad town occupied by several thousand Union soldiers.

Duffey published two accounts of his unit's raids. To read them and find out more about Duffey, go to Personal Accounts of the Civil War by Randolph-Macon Alumni