James Sangster, Class of 1853

Sangster, a farmer in Alexandria,VA in the 1860 census, was a refugee in Richmond with his wife and several young children. He was a clerk with the Ordnance Dept., and was serving as a clerk in the Quartermasters Dept. when he applied on May 2, 1863 for a clerical position in the Confederate Treasury Department, to which he was appointed June 19, 1863. He remained with the Treasury Dept. through the rest of the war and was one of the clerks who packed the Treasury's gold prior to fleeing Richmond and who accompanied the gold to Danville, VA. While serving in the Treasury Department, he was conscripted into Co. K of the 3rd Battalion VA Local Defense Infantry, a unit in which he was enrolled on October 23, 1863. He applied for an exemption in Dec. 1864 due to his service with the Treasury Department.

After the war, Sangster was a lawyer in Fairfax County, VA. He served as a judge for Alexandria and Fairfax, VA from approximately 1874-1885, having served prior to the war as county sheriff of Alexandria in 1859-1860. He later represented Fairfax in the VA state legislature and became a justice of the peace. He died April 27, 1906 and is buried in Lee Chapel Cemetery in Fairfax County, VA.  Sangster Elementary School in Fairfax, VA is named for him.