John Wesley Taylor, Class of 1860

Taylor was a teacher in Rockingham County, VA, at the beginning of the war. He enlisted as a private in Co. F of the 2nd Virginia Infantry on April 16, 1862. Taylor was reported as a deserter from his regiment on June 15, 1862 at Port Republic, Rockingham County, VA. He was arrested on March 8, 1863 and detailed to work in an iron foundry, where he remained at least through April 1864, when the records end.

After the war, he returned to teaching in Rockingham County, an occupation he was still practicing in 1910. He died on November 22, 1922 and is buried in Lacey Springs Cemetery in Rockingham County, VA.

Thomas Carter Johnson, Class of 1842 (A.B.), 1847 (A.M.) and President 1866-1868

Johnson, who had been a teacher, lawyer, and state legislator in Missouri prior to the war, served as a volunteer aid to General Sterling Price in 1862, during which time his rank is listed as lieutenant colonel. A letter from the Missouri governor to the CSA Secretary of War in early 1863 asks that Johnson be given a position in the Quartermaster or Paymaster departments. Johnson became a Special Agent in  the Quartermasters department, and he was given the charge in the summer of 1863 to establish and oversee a wagon manufacturing factory, the Government Transportation Works, in Columbus, GA. 

At the end of the war, Johnson relocated to Montgomery, AL where he practiced law until he was elected to the presidency of Randolph-Macon College in the fall of 1866, taking office in December 1866 and also serving as Professor of Moral Philosophy. Colonel Johnson, as he was known, resigned in the summer of 1868 preceding the college's move to Ashland, and was mortally injured in August 1868 on his journey home to his family in St. Louis, MO when he was crushed under a train car in Illinois, dying some hours later.

John T. Humphreys, Class of 1859

Humphreys was in Europe when the war began, studying the natural sciences in Oxford, Madrid, and Berlin, where he earned a Ph.D. at the University of Berlin prior to returning to the C.S.A. Humphreys enlisted as a private in Co. C of the 12th N.C. Infantry in March, 1864. He was wounded in the face during the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 19, 1864, fracturing his some of his facial bones. He was discharged due to disability on February 14, 1865 as his wound left him "unable to eat camp rations." He was paroled on April 15, 1865 in Lynchburg, VA.

After the war, he was acknowledged as an expert in the study of lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) and also published geological studies of North Carolina. He died in 1882 due in part to the effects of his war wounds.

John L. Johnson, Class of 1859

Johnson, a native of Mecklenburg County, VA, graduated from Randolph-Macon College in 1859.  The 1860 census shows him as living in Mecklenburg County in his father's household but lists no occupation. Johnson enlisted as a private in Co. F of the 14th VA Infantry on July 17, 1861. He was home on sick leave in April, 1862 and had not returned as of June 30, 1862 when he is listed as absent without leave, but had returned by August. He was promoted to 2nd lieutenant on May 17, 1863. Johnson was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.

James C. Hanes, Class of 1855 (A.B.) and 1858(A.M.)

Hanes, younger brother of Captain Garland Hanes, was a farmer in Buckingham County, VA at the beginning of the war. He was drafted as a private into Co. A of the 57th VA Infantry on October 18, 1864. He was captured on April 1, 1865 at Five Forks, VA and sent to the prison camp at Point Lookout, MD on April 5, 1865. Hanes was released on June 13, 1865 after taking the oath of allegiance.

After the war, Hanes returned to farming in Buckingham county, where he also served for many years as superintendent of instruction for the public schools.Hanes died sometime after 1890.