JOHN HERBERT CLAIBORNE, who received his A.B in 1848 and his A.M. in 1853, joined the 12th Virginia Infantry on April 19, 1861 as surgeon with the rank of captain. Claiborne left the 12th Virginia before its first battle when he was placed in charge of all Petersburg military hospitals on February 15, 1862, where he remained for the duration of the war. He evacuated with the army and surrendered on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House. Dr. Claiborne was a prominent physician after the war, and is buried in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg.
A copy of his 1904 memoir, entitled Seventy-five Years in Old Virginia; With Some Account of the Life of the Author and Some History of the People Amongst Whom His Lot Was Cast,--Their Character, Their Condition, and Their Conduct Before the War, During the War and After the War (available online), is available in the College Archives.
