Thursday, May 31, 2012

Clarence Henning Williamson, student 1861-1862

Williamson enlisted as a private in the "Norfolk Blues," the Norfolk (VA) Light Artillery, on November 1, 1864. He had previously served as a messenger for the Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau in North Carolina for several months in 1863 and 1864.

After the war, he lived in Norfolk, VA where by 1880 he was working as a clerk for a railway company, an occupation he is still listed at in 1900 and 1910. He died from apoplexy on March 12, 1911 and is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Portsmouth, VA.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Richard S. Parham, Class of 1844

Parham, a lawyer in Shreveport, LA in 1860, enlisted as a private in Co. F of the 12th VA Infantry on June 6, 1861. He was promoted to sergeant on September 22, 1861. He was wounded in the left knee on June 15, 1862. He was detailed as a clerk to the military intelligence office for several months in late 1862 with his rank reduced to private, and on December 19, 1862 he was discharged for disability due to heart disease and problems with his knee. On April 23, 1862 he joined Epes' Company of Johnston's Battalion Virginia Heavy Artillery. He spent much of his time with this unit detailed to the Quartermaster's
Department in Richmond.

He  resumed practicing law after the war and by 1870 had moved to Memphis, TN. He died November 25, 1875 and is buried in Memphis at Forest Hill Cemetery Midtown.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Thomas H. Parham, student 1859-1861

Parham enlisted in Co. F of the 12th VA Infantry on June 6, 1861 as a private. He was discharged on September 18, 1861 after furnishing a substitute, Mills B. Barrett.

Parham became a doctor in Sussex County, VA after the war.

Monday, May 28, 2012

William Fitzgerald, student 1862-1863

Fitzgerald (not to be confused with William Tazewell Fitzgerald who served in the same company) enlisted as a private in Co. E of the 3rd VA Cavalry on April 20, 1864. He was wounded at Mitchell's Shop in Caroline County,VA on May 9, 1864 and was admitted to Winder hospital in Richmond, VA on May 13, 1864.  he was hospitalized again in August 1864 at Farmville, VA to recover from "measles, debility and cough" and the record inidcates he was not yet recovered from his wound in May. He was paroled in Nottoway County, VA on April 20, 1865.

He returned to Nottoway County, VA after the war, where he was a farmer in 1870.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Thomas F. Fitzgerald, Class of 1850

Fitzgerald enlisted as a private in Co. E of the 3rd VA Cavalry on May 27, 1861. In May of 1862, he was hospitalized at Chimborazo in Richmond, VA for "debility" and sent to to the holpital in Farmville, VA in June and July of 1862 with a fever. He was in the Farmville hospital again in March of 1864 with an unknown ailment.  He was promoted to corporal. By the time of his parole at Burkeville, VA on April 21, 1865, he was a corporal.

In 1870, he was teaching in Panola County, MS, where his elder brothers had moved. By 1880, he had returned to Nottoway County and was teaching.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Edward W. Fitzgerald, student 1841-1842

Fitzgerald had been a farmer in Panola County, MS, since at least 1850 when he enlisted as a private in Co. K of the 2nd Mississippi Partisan Rangers Cavalry. On July 31, 1862. he was promoted to corporal in 1863.

After the war, he returned to farming in Panola County, MS. By 1900, he had moved to Tate County, MS where he was still farming.  

Friday, May 25, 2012

Benjamin F. Fitzgerald, student 1840-1841


Fitzgerald served as a private in Mathew's Battalion of the Mississippi State Troops, a cavalry unit. He was captured in Panola County, MS, where he had moved prior to 1850 and been a farmer. He was paroled in Oxford, MS on December 23, 1862, after signing a pledge to not take up arms again. Fitzgerald violated the parole by enlisting in Co. K of the 2nd Mississippi Partisan Rangers Cavalry on October 6, 1863 as a private, joining his brother Edward W. Fitzgerald who had enlisted on July 31, 1862. He died in 1864.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Hiram A. Fitzgerald, student 1858-1861

Fitzgerald enlisted as a private on May 23, 1862 in Co. E of the 3rd VA Cavalry. He was wounded in the face and neck at the Battle of Haw's Shop in Hanover County, VA on May 28, 1864 and taken prisoner. He was sent to Lincoln General Hospital in Washington, D.C. on May 30, 1864 and died there of a "secondary hemorrhage" on June 6, 1864. He was buried on June 7, 1864 in an undisclosed location.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Edmund L. Penn, student 1860-1861

Penn enlisted as a sergeant in Co. H of the 42nd VA Infantry with his brother Greenville. In February and March of 1862, he was assigned to recruitment duty. He was wounded in the stomach at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1862 and to captain on June 3, 1863. He spent much of the rest of the war enrolling and training recruits as he had a surgeon's certificate of disability due to his wound. On December 11, 1863, he was appointed drill master and assigned to the Conscript Office until July 1864, when he was again assigned to recruiting duties in Southside Virginia.

After the war, Penn was a farm superintendent in Henry County (VA) in 1870, a farmer in Patrick County in 1880, and a grocery clerk in Martinsville, VA in 1900. Penn died on October 26, 1903 with his death attributed to a stomach cancer caused by his war injury.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Greenville B. Penn, student 1860-1861

Penn enlisted as a private in Co. H of the 42nd VA Infantry with his brother Edmund. He was wounded in the shoulder on August 9, 1862 at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, VA and hospitalized in Charlottesville, Lynchburg, and Danville, VA. He returned to his regiment in October, 1862. He was wounded again at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863 and hospitalized in Richmond, VA. He was promoted to lieutenant April 21, 1862 and to captain on December 11, 1863. Penn was taken prisoner at the Battle of Fisher's Hill on September 22, 1864 and sent to the prison camp at Fort Delaware, DE where he remained until taking the oath of allegiance on June 17, 1865.

After the war, he returned home to Patrick County, VA where he was a merchant in 1870 and a farmer in 1880. By 1900, he had moved to Danville, VA where he was a tobacconist in 1900 and 1910, and retired in 1920. Penn died in 1927 and is buried in Danville, VA in Green Hill Cemetery.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Richard B. Holstead, Class of 1858 (A.B.) and 1860 (A.M.)

Holstead was a teacher in Pittsylvania County in 1860. The older brother of Robert N. Holstead, he enlisted in Co. D of the 3rd VA Local Defense Infantry on June 22, 1863.

After the war, he taught school in Richmond. In 1880, he is listed as a patient in the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg, VA. His subsequent history is unknown.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Robert N. Holstead, student 1859-1861

Holstead served in Parker's Light Artillery Battery, a Richmond, VA defense unit. On August 15, 1862 he was assigned as a steward to Richmond's General Hospital No. 20, also known as Royster's Hospital.  He was working as a druggist at the hospital when he died there of typhoid fever on October 5, 1862.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Henry Clay Cheatham, Class of 1857

Cheatham, a Methodist minister at the outbreak of the war, became chaplain of the 8th NC Infantry in early 1862. By 1863 he had left the army and was back to preaching.

He continued as a minister in the Virginia Conference until his death on May 2, 1902.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Eugene W. Spratley, student 1859-1860

Spratley attended the College of William and Mary after leaving Randolph-Macon. He enlisted as a private in Co. K of the 21st VA Infantry on May 4, 1861. He enlisted on February 22, 1862 as a private in Co. I of the 12th VA Infantry. He was discharged on July 22, 1862 when he furnished a substitute, John L. Jean, who was taken prisoner  in 1864 and sent to the POW camp at Point Lookout, MD. Spratley was appointed CSA postmaster for the Greensville County, VA community of Pleasant Shade on July 14, 1863.

After the war, he remained in Greensville County where he was a farmer in 1870.  He declared bankruptcy in December 1871, and was a laborer in 1880, a farmer in 1900, and a laborer in 1910.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Almonte Theophilus Dobie, student 1857-1858

Dobie enlisted as a private on May 17, 1861 in the Sussex Light Dragoons, Co. C of the 5th VA Cavalry, which became Co. H of 13th VA Cavalry. He was promoted to corporal on May 5, 1862 and to sergeant on October 1, 1863. His horse was killed July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg and he received $600 in compensation on August 15, 1863. He was paroled at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

Dobie became a teacher and farmer. He died July 1, 1906 and is buried in the Slade Green Family cemetery in Sussex County, VA.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Paul Fletcher Faison, student 1855-1856

In the spring of 1861, Faison was a cadet in the Class of 1861 (having enrolled in 1857) at West Point when he left West Point and returned to North Carolina. He enlisted on May 28, 1861 as a major in the 14th NC Infantry.  He resigned on April 26, 1862 when he was defeated for reelection as major. On July 31, 1862. Faison was commissioned as a colonel in the 56th NC Infantry. He was acquitted in a courtmartial action in 1863 after his men had been surprised and ambushed. He was hospitalized in Raleigh, NC from July 24, 1864 to September 1, 1864 with acute diarrhea. He was recommended for promotion to brigadier general in October 1864, but the promotion did not occur. He surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

He moved to Raleigh, NC after the war, where he was a farmer in 1870 and a cotton dealer in 1880. At the time of his death in Shawnee, Oklahoma on March 3, 1896, Faison was a United States Indian Inspector. The 1896 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs lists his home in 1895 as Raleigh, NC and his compensation as $2500, and indicates he was an "inspector in the field." He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, NC.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Frank S. Faison, student 1862-1863

Faison, who attended R-MC under a military curriculum, served as 1st lieutenant in Co. K of the 1st North Carolina Junior Reserves Infantry. He enlisted on July 12, 1864 at the age of 17. He was absent from his regiment due to illness in January and February 1865.

After the war, Faison attended the University of North Carolina, graduating in 1867.  He returned to Northampton County, NC, where the 1870 and 1880 censuses list him as a farmer.  By 1900, he was living in Raleigh, NC and listed as a landlord, and in 1910 was listed as having his "own income." He died in Raleigh on June 14, 1915, with his death certificate listing kidney disease and apoplexy as causes.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Amasa Palmer Wright, student 1859-1861

Wright enlisted as a private in Co. C of the 21st VA Infantry on June 20, 1861. He was wounded on August 9, 1862 at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, VA.  He was detailed as a hospital nurse, a teamster, and finally as a commissary sergeant for the 2nd brigade.

He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Shepherdstown, WV, but his fate after 1864 and the date of his death are unknown.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Wesley Wright, Jr., student 1859-1862

Wright, younger brother of Luther Wright '59, joined Co. B of the 9th VA Cavalry on September 19, 1862 as a private. He was wounded in the right hip on July 3, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg with the ball lodged near his bladder. He was still hospitalized in Richmond, VA on January 1, 1864 due to the injury and listed as "too sick to move." In March 1864 he was released from the hospital and granted a furlough. He did not return to his regiment until late spring of 1864. He took the Oath of Allegiance in Ashland, VA on April 25, 1865.

A native of Caroline County, VA, he had returned there by 1880 and is listed as a farmer in the censuses  through 1910. Wright died August 26, 1911.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Henry Fletcher Jeter, student 1859-1860

Jeter, a school teacher in Bedford County, VA in the 1860 census, joined his brother Frank as a private in Co. E of the 14th VA Infantry when he enlisted on October 31, 1861. Like his brother, he went AWOL in 1862 and again in 1863. He was hospitalized due to an undocumented illness at Chimborazo in Richmond on May 20, 1864, not returning to his regiment until October 15, 1864.

After the war, he moved to Woodford County, Illinois and is listed as a farmer in the 1870 census. By 1880, he had returned to Mecklenburg County, VA, where he remained until his death on July 2, 1916. He is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Chase City, VA.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Frank Asbury Jeter, student 1860-1861

Jeter enlisted on May 12, 1861 as a private in Co. E of the 14th VA Infantry. From August to October of 1861, he was at home with a fever. In April of 1862, he went AWOL, returning to his company prior to the Battle of Seven Pines, where he was wounded on June 1, 1862 and recuperated at home in Mecklenburg County, VA. Jeter was promoted to corporal on September 22, 1862. He was wounded again November 9, 1862 and hospitalized in Richmond, VA on November 11, not returning to his company until March 1863. He did not return from a week-long furlough ending on June 19, 1863 and was again declared AWOL, and was  demoted to private upon his return September 26, 1863.

After the war, Jeter moved to Woodford County, Illinois and farmed and became a Methodist minister in Roanoke, IL, where he served as an election clerk in 1874. He abandoned his wife and family prior to 1880 and his later whereabouts are unknown.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

William M. Jerdone, student 1860-1861

Jerdone enlisted on March 20, 1862 as a private in the Orange (VA) Light Artillery. On May 26, 1862 he was discharged for disability due to to tuberculosis. He died a few days later on June 1, 1862 and was buried in the Jerdone Family Cemetery at Bloomsbury, the family estate near Orange, VA. A history of the Bloomsbury house states the Jerdone graves were removed by the family, but their reinterment location is unknown, although many family members are buried in Graham Cemetery in Orange, VA.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

George Benjamin Jones, Class of 1841 (A.B.) and 1844 (A.M.)

Jones was listed as an apothecary in Petersburg, VA in the 1850 census and a druggist in the 1860 census.  He was killed on June 9, 1864 at Rives Farm during the Siege of Petersburg while serving as a private in Co. B of the 3rd VA Reserves (Archer's) unit. His gravestone in Petersburg's Blandford cemetery is inscribed "in defense of home and fireside."

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

John F. Moody, Class of 1847

Moody was a teacher and principal of the Lancaster Male and Female Seminary in Lancaster County, VA, prior to his enlistment as a sergeant in Co. I (some records indicate Co. D, although his gravestones states Co. I) of the 40th VA Infantry. He was promoted to lieutenant on September 20, 1861.  He was wounded on June 27, 1862 at the Battle of Gaines' Mill (First Battle of Cold Harbor), part of the Seven Days Battles. Moody died on June 30, 1862 and is buried in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, VA.

Monday, May 7, 2012

John Robert Barr, student 1860-1862

Barr enlisted as a private in Co. C of the 13th VA Cavalry on August 17, 1862.  His horse was killed in action at Upperville, VA on June 21, 1863 and he was paid $600 in compensation. He was without a horse for several months and eventually was transferred to Captain Allen's Company of the VA Heavy Artillery (Lunenburg Rebel Artillery) in early 1864. On April 9, 1865, he was paroled at Appomattox Court House.

He moved to Alabama after the war and in 1870 is listed as a dentist in Barbour County, AL. In the 1880 census, he is listed as a dentist and farmer.  Dr. Barr died in December 24, 1888 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Eufala, AL.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Nathan Alexander Ramsey, student 1844-1845

Ramsey attended the University of North Carolina after leaving R-MC, graduating from UNC in 1848. He was  a merchant and farmer when he enlisted on April 15, 1861 as a sergeant in Co. M of the 15th NC Infantry.  He was promoted to captain and transferred to Co. D of the 61st NC Infantry on March 21, 1862.

He returned to Chatham County, NC after the war and was a farmer. By 1880, he had moved to Durham, NC and was a bookkeeper. The 1900 census lists him as a sign maker in Durham. He died September 11, 1906 and is buried in Durham's Maplewood Cemetery.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Portius Aurelius Moore, student 1856-1860

Moore enlisted on May 5, 1861 as a sergeant in Co. A of the 24th NC Infantry. He was promoted to 2nd lieutenant on March 17, 1862 and to 1st lieutenant on April 15, 1863. He was killed on June 24, 1864 at Petersburg , VA.  He is buried at the Stephen Moore Cemetery in Person County, NC, where his grave reads "Fell at Petersburg."

Friday, May 4, 2012

Samuel T. Moore, Class of 1854 (A.B.) and 1857 (A.M.)

Moore enlisted as a private on May 14, 1861 in Co. A of the 3rd VA Cavalry. He was detailed as an orderly to General Lafayette McLaws from December 1861 until at least March 1862. He had a number of absences due to illness and was captured in a Richmond hospital on April 3, 1865 and paroled on April 20, 1865.

After the war, he returned to Mecklenburg County, where he was a school teacher in 1870, and a farmer in 1880 and 1900. His obituary in the Nashville Christian Advocate states that he was county surveyor for 35 years. Moore died July 12, 1903.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Frank D. Lee, student 1859-1861

Frank D. Lee attended Randolph-Macon College from 1859 to 1861 when he joined Confederate service on June 22. He was 18 years old in 1861 and enlisted in Company H of the 16th Virginia Infantry at Sewell's Point, Virginia. On March 26, 1862, the 16th Virginia was reorganized as Norfolk Light Artillery. He was wounded during the siege of Petersburg on June 15, 1864 and then again in 1865, but when and where he was wounded is not stated. It is mentioned, however, that he was disabled as a result of his wounding.

The son of prominent methodist minister Leroy M. Lee, Frank was a reporter in Charleston, SC in 1870.  By 1880, he was working as a bookkeeper in Fulton County, GA. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, GA.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Robert Pleasant Trippe, student 1835-1836

A native of Georgia, after leaving R-MC Trippe attended Franklin College, which later became the University of Georgia, graduating in 1839. He was a lawyer and politician who served in elected offices including the state legislature from 1849-1852,   the U.S. House of Representatives from 1855-1859, and the state senate from 1859-1860. Trippe joined Co. D of the 8th GA Infantry, the State Guards, as a private on August 4, 1863, but was absent with leave for much of this time as he was a member of the Confederate Congress from 1862-1864. He swore allegiance to the US on September 6, 1865 and applied for a presidential pardon.

He returned to Forsyth, GA after the war and resumed his law practice, also serving 1873-1875 on the Georgia supreme court.  He died on July 22, 1900 and is buried in Forsyth City Cemetery in Forsyth, GA.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Junius D. O'Brien, student 1850-1851

O'Brien received his medical degree from the University Medical College in NY (now NYU) in 1858. A native of NC, he was practicing medicine in Hopkinsville, KY at the beginning of the war. He was an assistant surgeon in Richmond from Feb. 2, 1863 through May 5, 1863, when he resigned. In a letter to the Surgeon General dated April 30, 1865, he indicates he was a volunteer doctor a the Battle of Fort Donelson, TN and then remained with the wounded at the hospitals in Clarksville, TN, then served as a doctor at the Battle of Murfreesboro and after the battle in the Kentucky Brigade hospital. He resigned hoping to go to Fredericksburg, VA, although no documentation places him there. In late 1864, he was in Florence, South Carolina serving as assistant surgeon at the prison camp there. He took the oath of allegiance at Raleigh, NC on May 30, 1865. He was sent to the prison camp at Point Lookout, MD, ending up in Washington, DC by June 17, 1865 when he was furnished with transportation back to Hopkinsville, KY by order of the Provost Marshal General.

After the war, he returned to Hopkinsville and resumed his medical practice. He was granted a patent for an "exercising-machine" in July 1886, assigning the patent rights to his wife, Martha. O'Brien died in 1901 and is buried in Hopkinsville's Riverside Cemetery.