Saturday, March 17, 2012

Thomas H. Puryear, student 1862-1863

Thomas H. Puryear was a teacher when he enlisted as a corporal in Co. C of the 21st VA Infantry on June 20, 1861.  He had been wounded slightly near Winchester, VA on March 23, 1862, and sent to the hospital in Staunton, VA. He was discharged for disability on August 6, 1862.

Puryear, a native of Mecklenburg County, attended R-MC immediately after his discharge in the fall of 1862.  It is unknown how he spent the rest of the war years after the college closed in February, 1863. He moved to Clarksville, TN and then to Paducah, KY, where he became a prosperous tobacco merchant, and was also involved in banking and railroads. Puryear committed suicide on March 18, 1898.

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