Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Adolphus E. Richards, student 1859-1861

Adolphus E. "Dolly" Richards joined Co. B of Mosby's Partisan Rangers, the 43rd VA Cavalry Battalion, as a private. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant in Co. C on Dec. 7, 1863. Richards became captain in April 1864, and was again promoted to major on Dec. 7, 1864 for "valor and bravery." At the time of his parole in Winchester, VA on May 17, 1865, Richards was just 21 years of age.

He attended the University of Virginia and the University of Louisville after the war, and is listed in the 1870-1920 censuses as a lawyer in Louisville, KY, also serving as a judge during the 1880s and City Attorney.  Richards died Feb. 20, 1920 and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

Richards wrote an account of his war experiences entitled Mosby's "Partizan Rangers" for the book Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War published in 1893 by The Century Co. The Richards family home in Loudoun County, VA, Greengarden Farm, was used by Mosby's Rangers as a safe house.

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