Tuesday, April 10, 2012

James Thomas Lumpkin, student 1868-1870

Lumpkin enlisted as a private in Co. H of the 55th VA Infantry on May 24, 1861.  He transferred to Co. C of the 55th on May 4, 1862 after spending part of April hospitalized for illness.  He was on furlough in the summer of 1862, and is listed as taken P.O.W. in August of 1862 with no place listed.  He was exchanged on October 15, 1862., not returning to his regiment until Nov. 28, 1862. he is credited with capturing the flag of the 149th PA Infantry at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. he was wounded slightly at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg. On April 15, 1864, he was transferred to Co. C of the 1st Battalion MD Cavalry. His biography in "Sketches of the Virginia Conference" states he was captured near Richmond, VA shortly after his transfer to the cavalry when his horse was shot and sent for six months to the prison camp at Point Lookout, MD.

Lumkin had been orphaned at 14 and not had access to much education. He went to Baltimore after the war and then to Virginia, where he engaged in business to earn enough to cover his college expenses. He became a minister in the Virginia Conference in 1870. He died in 1911 and is buried in Riverview Cemetery in Richmond, VA.

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