Richard Ferguson, Class of 1858 (A.B.) and 1894 (A.M.)

Ferguson, a farmer in Nottoway County, enlisted as a private in the Nottoway Grays, Co.G of the 18th VA Infantry. He was promoted to lieutenant on December 8, 1861. He is listed as commanding the company in March 1862. Due to illness, he was dropped from the company on April 26, 1862, but continued to join his company even though he had not reenlisted.. He was wounded on June 30, 1862 during the Battle of Frayser's Farm (also known as the Battle of Glendale), part of the Seven Days Battles near Richmond, VA. He was promoted to adjutant on June 30, 1862 and to sergeant major on September 13, 1862.
 Ferguson was taken prisoner on July 3, 1863 following Pickett's Charge in the Battle of Gettysburg. He was imprisoned first at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, MD on July 7, and then on July 9 was sent on the prison camp at Fort Delaware, DE. He was transferred on July 18, 1863 to the prison camp at Johnson's Island, OH, where he remained until he was sent to City Point at Hopewell, VA for exchange on February 24, 1865.

Ferguson farmed and taught in a school he opened for three years after the war. He became a minister in the VA Conference in 1869, having intended a career in the ministry prior to war but was prohibited from pursuing it due to illness. He received his A.M. degree from R-MC in 1894, the same year his son, Richard Ferguson Jr. also received an A.M. The father's degree is indicated as having been received "under the old law existing when his A.B. was taken." This meant that the recipient had graduated with honors and pursued a program of rigorous independent study for at least three years, demonstrating proficiency to the faculty. Ferguson retired from the ministry in 1918. He died January 1, 1930 in Tampa, FL and is buried in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, VA. Ferguson had written a wartime memoir in July 1928 that he requested be published posthumously in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where it appeared on May 25, 1930 as "Reminiscences of a Virginia Minister." In his memoir he tells the story of his captivity, including his failed escape from Johnson's Island.