Thomas Gordon Elam, student 1865-1866

Elam enlisted as a private in Co. E of the 14th VA Infantry on May 12, 1861. He was discharged on August 15, 1862. He joined Epes' Co. of Johnston's Artillery as a private on February 21, 1863. In July 1863, he applied for a discharge to attend VMI but the application was denied. He was detailed as a courier, during which time he learned to use the telegraph, and was then detailed as a telegraph operator at Chaffin's Bluff, VA. Elam was taken prisoner on March 2, 1865 at Waynesboro, VA and sent to the prison at Fort Delaware, DE, from which he was released upon taking the oath of allegiance on May 20, 1865. His

After the war, Elam attended Randolph-Macon College from 1865-1866. In 1870, Elam was a railroad agent in Suffolk, VA. He founded a newspaper, the Suffolk (VA) Herald in 1873, and was editor and publisher for a number of years.  By 1899, he was editor of the Hampton Monitor, and he also served as editor of the Danville Register. He later went into the insurance business in Roanoke, VA.  His obituary in the April, 1916 edition of Confederate Veteran indicates he held the rank of captain at the end of the war, but the military records, including the record of his capture, do not indicate his rank ever changed from private during the war.