Thomas Claybrook Elder, class of 1854 (A.B.) and 1857 (A.M.)

Thomas Claybrook Elder enlisted as a private in 1862, serving first on the staff of Virginia General Roger Atkinson Pryor and then on the staff of General Edward A. Perry of the Florida brigade, under whom he was promoted to major and was Commissary of Subsistence in mid-1863. he surrendered at Appomattox Court House.

Elder practiced law in Staunton, VA after the war and was a prominent member of the Virginia Bar Asssociation, serving as its president, and he held several public offices in Staunton. He died November 22, 1904 and is buried in Staunton's Thornrose Cemetery.