Monday, November 26, 2012

John Nicholson Washington, student 1837-1838

Washington completed his education at Yale University, enrolling in January 1839. He was a lawyer  in New Bern, North Carolina in 1860. He enlisted as a private in January 1862 in Co. B, Clark's Special Battalion, North Carolina Militia, taking part in the Battle of New Bern on March 14, 1862. He relocated to Chatham County, NC where he spent the remainder of the war teaching and serving in the Chatham County Home Guard.

At the end of the war, he returned to New Bern, NC, where he was elected mayor in the summer of 1865. He left politics after serving a single term and resumed his career as a lawyer in New Bern. He died on February 14, 1869 and is buried in New Bern's Cedar Grove Cemertery.

Friday, November 23, 2012

James Albert Harrell (Harrold), student 1839-1840

Harrell adopted the spelling "Harrold" for his name.  Harrell's brother William's unpublished autobiographical notes place the two boys at R-MC in January, 1839. The Harrell brothers were dismissed from the College when they were caught with several others attending a circus in Clarksville, VA. James studied medicine with a local doctor and then attended medical school in Baltimore, MD.  He practiced medicine in North Carolina for many years  He was ordained in 1853 as an Episcopalian priest in Baltimore. He served as a chaplain and also as a surgeon in the Confederate army.

After the war, he moved to Washington, D.C. leading a number of churches there and in Maryland.  He eventually moved to Syracuse NY, where he died on July 9, 1903, shortly after relocating.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Walter Myrick, student 1858-1861

Myrick enlisted on July 15, 1861 as a private in Co. B of Waddill's Battalion VA Infantry, which later became Co. F of the 5th Battn VA Infantry.  In September 1862 he was transferred to Co. F of the 53rd VA Infantry, but as of October 31 he had still not reported to the new company and was considered AWOL. He joined the company in mid-November and by February 1863 was detailed on ambulance corps duty. He was promoted to sergeant on October 31, 1863.  Myrick was killed on September 29, 1864 at Fort Harrison, VA during the Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights, part of the Siege of Petersburg.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Victor Moreau Brandon, Class of 1858

Brandon was a lawyer in Elizabeth City, NC in the 1860 census.  He enlisted May 8, 1861 as a private in the Camden Knights, Co. C of the 1st AR Infantry, the same company joined by Christopher Thrower, R-MC Class of 1859.  He was appointed 2nd lieutenant on July 25, 1862. Brandon was taken prisoner at Jackson, MS on May 15, 1863 and paroled at Demopolis, AL on June 5, 1863. He submitted his letter of resignation on December 1, 1863 in Abbeville, AL because he was suffering from tuberculosis, and his resignation was accepted January 11, 1864.

In 1863, he married the sister of R-MC alumni John W. Anthony and Benjamin Haden Anthony, who had married Brandon's sister, and after leaving the service resided at her family estate, Walnut Hill, near Evington, VA. Brandon died on April 28, 1866 and is believed to be buried in the Anthony Family Cemetery in Campbell County, VA

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

George K. Ligon, student 1859-1860

Ligon, a clerk, enlisted in Co. E of the 14th VA Infantry as a private on May 12, 1861. He was promoted to corporal on August 1, 1861. On February 2, 1862, he was detailed as a hospital steward, serving unitl he was discharged on August 15, 1862 due to the conscription act.

In 1870, Ligon was a druggist living in Hazlehurst. Mississippi.

Monday, November 19, 2012

George Feild, student 1862-1863

Feild (variantly spelled Field, Fields, Feilds) was sent to R-MC in the fall of 1862 after he was discharged for minority from Co. C of the 46th NC Infantry, which he had joined on April 16, 1862 as a private. When  the college closed in early 1863, he reenlisted in Co. C of the 46th NC Infantry in February 1863. he was hospitalized in Richmond, VA in December 1863 and April 1864 with chronic diarrhea, and again in August 1864 for an unknown ailment, and was on sick furlough from the middle of October until the middle of November 1864. He was taken prisoner at Hatcher's Run, VA on March 31, 1865 and sent to City Point, VA, from where he was sent on April 2, 1865 to the prison camp at Point Lookout, MD. He was released on June 26, 1865 after taking the oath of allegiance.


Sunday, November 18, 2012

Charles Grandison Feild, Jr., student 1862-1863

Feild (name variantly spelled Feilds, Field, and Fields), son of an Okolona, Mississippi CSA officer, entered R-MC as a cadet under the military curriculum in place in the fall of 1862 after having been expelled from VMI in February, 1862 for intoxication. When R-MC closed in early 1863, he returned to Mississippi and enlisted in Co. B of the 17th MS Partisan Rangers Cavalry.

In 1870, he was residing with his widowed mother in Okolona, MS and working as a hotel clerk in his mother's hotel. By 1900, he was a salesman in Yazoo City, MS. He died in Yazoo City on November 18, 1903.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Thomas Rowlett Friend, student 1859-1861

Friend, cousin of Charles N. and George W. Friend, enlisted as a private in Co. C of the 9th VA Infantry on August 29, 1861. He served extra duty with the engineering department in early 1862. For nearly 2 years, from the fall of 1862 through the summer of 1864, he was detached from his unit serving as a courier for General George Pickett.

After the war, he farmed in Chesterfield. VA. Friend died in 1915 and is buried in the Friend Family Cemetery in Chester, VA.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Charles Nathaniel Friend, student 1862-1863

Friend, younger brother of Dr. George W. Friend, enlisted as a private in the Richmond Howitzers, the 1st Co. VA Howitzers Light Artillery on April 19, 1864 at the age of 17. He surrendered at Richmond, VA on April 17, 1865 and took the oath of allegiance on April 18.

After the war, he returned to Chesterfield County, VA where he was a farmer in the 1870 census. By 1880, he was a merchant, and in 1900 and 1910 he is listed as an insurance agent. He died June 16, 1919 and is buried in Chesterfield County, VA in Sunset Memorial Park.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

George William Friend, Class of 1848

Friend attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia after graduating from R-MC, receiving his M.D. in 1851. He was practicing medicine in Chesterfield County,VA at the beginning of the war. He served as an Assistant Surgeon during the war.

Dr. Friend continued his medical practice in Chesterfield County, VA after the war. He died May 5, 1905 of a cerebral hemorrhage and is buried in Maury Cemetery in Richmond, VA.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

James Edward Leary, student 1857-1860

Leary enlisted as a corporal in Co. G of the 32nd NC Infantry on April 1, 1862. On July 15, 1862, his rank was reduced to private. On January 1, 1863, he transferred to Co. F of the 59th NC Regiment-4th NC Cavalry. He served ordnance sergeant from February-August 1863.

After the war, he moved to Arkansas. He was living in Phillips, AR in 1870 when he married. He is listed in the 1880 census in Marianna, Lee County, AR, where he was Justice of the Peace. From 1890-1892, he served as an examiner for the public schools in Marianna. By 1900, he was a teacher living in Lee County.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Thomas Montague Isbell, Class of 1836

Isbell practiced law in Cumberland County, VA for several years before moving to Jefferson County, VA (later WV), where he was a wealthy lawyer and planter . He served in the Virginia Senate as the representative of Jefferson and Berkeley counties from 1860-1862. He served very briefly as the first captain of what became Co. A of the 12th VA Cavalry. He was residing once again in Cumberland County, VA when he enlisted as a private in the 3rd Regiment VA Reserves on April 24, 1864 .  He took the oath of allegiance and applied for a presidential pardon on July 17, 1865, claiming he never held office under the Confederate government (although he had served in the legislature of a Confederate state).

After the war, he returned to Jefferson County, now a part of WV and resumed farming. He died on February 24, 1881 and is buried in Grace Cemetery in Berryville, Clarke County, VA.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

William Meredith Cabell, Class of 1844

Cabell was,a lawyer in Lynchburg, VA in the1850 census and in Nelson County, VA in the1860 census, the year he moved to Buckingham County, VA.. He was drafted as a private on April 11, 1862 into Co. E of the 41st VA Infantry. He was discharged from duty on June 18, 1862. He returned to service on an unknown date as a private in Co. H of the 1st Regiment VA Infantry. Records indicate he was hospitalized with diarrhea at Chimborazo in Richmond, VA on March 10, 1865. He surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

After the war, he practiced law in Buckingham County, VA. He served Buckingham County in the VA House of Delegates from 1865-1867, having previously served Nelson County in that capacity from 1855-1856. He died November 2, 1898 and is buried in Richmond, VA in Hollywood Cemetery.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Robert Munroe Dickenson, student 1838-1839


Robert Munroe Dickenson received his medical degree from the University of Louisiana in 1843. He practiced medicine first in Tennessee and then moved to Louisiana, where he was a doctor in Jackson, LA in the 1850 census. He was a physician in Ashley County, AR at the outbreak of the war. He was exempt from regular military service due to his occupation and age, serving instead in the Ashley County Home Guard which was organized in November 1863.

He moved to Paris,TN in 1868 and practiced medicine. Dr. Dickenson purchased the Paris Intelligencer newspaper and was editor until 1882, when he moved to Orlando, FL. He died on May 4, 1900 and is buried in Orlando's Greenwood Cemetery.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Marcus Aurelius Clark(e), student 1853-1854



Clark, variantly spelled as Clarke, graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1857 and was practicing medicine in Brunswick County, VA in 1860.  He enlisted as a corporal in Co. A of the 5th Battalion VA Infantry on May 4, 1861. He was discharged for disability on September 18, 1861. Clark died from typhoid fever on November 10, 1862 and was buried in the cemetery at the family home, Northview, in Brunswick County, VA.

Monday, November 5, 2012

George Henry Ray, student 1859-1860

Ray, a Methodist minister, was appointed chaplain of the 3rd VA Cavalry on October 2, 1861, a regiment in which he would have been well acquainted with many of the men as it included the Boydton Cavalry, also known as the Mecklenburg Dragoons, which was designated as Company A of the 3rd VA Cavalry. He resigned effective August 9, 1862.

He returned to his service as a minister in the Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which he served until 1909.  Reverend Ray died on March 18, 1911 and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA. 

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Edward G. McGehee, student 1865-66

McGehee, a native of Charlotte County, VA, enlisted as a sergeant on an unknown date in Company E of the 2nd VA Light Artillery, a company which his father had organized and served as captain. In 1862, his father resigned as captain and the company was reorganized as Co. E of the 22nd Battalion VA Infantry, and McGehee was promoted to 2nd lieutenant by May 1862, He was promoted to first lieutenant in June 1862. He was hospitalized August 17, 1862 for an unknown reason and had not yet returned to his company by October.  McGehee was wounded in the foot in may 1863 and hospitalized in Farmville, VA on May12. He returned to duty July 4, 1863. The company roll in February 1864 indicates McGehee was commanding the company. He was captured at Petersburg, VA on August 19, 1864 and was sent first to Old Capital Prison in Washington, DC on August 21and then to the prison camp at Fort Delaware, DE on August 29. He took the oath of allegiance and was released on June 17, 1865.

After the war he moved to Prince Edward County, VA where he farmed and became a merchant. He died in 1933 and is buried in the cemetery at Briery Presbyterian Church in Keysville, VA. His tombstone lists his rank as captain, although his service record indicates his rank as lieutenant.