Samuel Buckner Paul, student 1841-1842

Paul, younger son of longtime R-MC trustee D'Arcy Paul, had attended the University of Virginia after R-MC, grdauting in 1846.  He was a lawyer in Petersburg, VA in 1850 and had edited and owned a Petersburg newspaper in the late 1850s. He enlisted on September 6, 1861 as lieutenant colonel of the 28th VA Infantry. Paul left the regiment on April 15, 1862 when he was not reelected to that position in a reorganization of the regiment. In 1864, he was appointed AAG on the staff of General P.G.T. Beauregard.

After the war, he became involved in the insurance industry in Petersburg. By 1880, he was an insurance attorney living in Petersburg but practicing in both Petersburg and Richmond. He was practicing law in New York City by 1900. Paul died on September 26, 1908 and is buried in Petersburg, VA in Blandford Cemetery.

William Frederick Hobbs, student 1862-1863

Hobbs enlisted as a corporal in Co. I of the 24th VA Cavalry on July 24, 1863.  He was appointed sergeant on July 8, 1864. He was captured at Amelia Court House on April 6, 1865 and sent to the prison camp at Point Lookout, MD, from which he was released on June 13, 1865.

After the war, he was a farmer in Greensville County, VA and remained there until sometime between 1910 and 1920, when he moved to Norfolk, VA. He died on January 25, 1932 and is buried in Emporia Cemetery in Emporia, VA.

Benjamin Zachariah Herndon, Class of 1842

Herndon, a wealthy farmer in Cokesbury, SC who had served in the S.C. House of Representatives from 1854-1855, raised a 90 day reserve regiment, Co. A of the 5th Regiment SC Reserves and served as its captain from November 10, 1862 until February 15, 1863. He was elected on December 27, 1864 as lieutenant colonel in the1st South Carolina Reserves.

He remained a prominent farmer in Cokesbury, SC his entire life. Herndon died on April 21, 1886 and is buried in Cokesbury's Tabernacle Cemetery.

John Algernon Heartwell, student 1854-1855

Heartwell, a farmer before the war in Brunswick County, VA, enlisted as a private in the Brunswick Guard, Co. A of the 5th Battalion VA Infantry, on May 4, 1861. He was discharged for disability on February 17, 1862. His disability certificate indicates his complaint as "icterus brought on by exposure to the miasmatic influences which surround this camp" at Hardy's Bluff, VA, which was the location of Fort Huger in Isle of Wight County, VA.

Heartwell, returned to Brunswick County, where he farmed the rest of his life. He died in 1908 and is buried in the Heartwell Family Cemetery on Route 715 in Brunswick County, VA

Hugh Davis Bracey, Class of 1851

Bracey, a farmer in Mecklenburg County, VA before the war, enlisted as a private on May 1, 1862 in Co. F of the 14th VA Infantry.  He was transferred to Co. I of the regiment on October 31, 1862. Bracey was discharged on January 10, 1863 upon furnishing a substitute, John Kearney, who deserted three days later on January 13, 1863.

By 1870, Bracey had relocated to Volusia County, FL where he remained the rest of his life and was engaged in farming. In 1880, he was practicing dentistry, a profession he only retired from a year prior to his death. He died on March 8, 1914 and is buried in Beresford Cemetery in Deland, FL.

Richard Samuel F. Peete, Class of 1849 (A.B.) and 1852 (A.M.)

Peete was a schoolteacher in Charlotte County, VA in 1850 after he graduated from R-MC. He then studied medicine from 1850-1851 at the University of Virginia, from which he was expelled in June 1851 for leaving the room during exams, the first honor trial at UVA. Peete would later be granted his M.D.from the University of Louisville, and he was a physician in Charlotte County, VA in 1860.

He was commissioned as surgeon of the 12th North Carolina Infantry on May 23, 1862. He resigned due to disability on March 25, 1864.

After the war, he resided in Warren County, NC where in 1866 he was performing marriages as a Justice of the Peace in addition to practicing medicine.  He was still practicing in 1870 but had stopped by 1875 when he moved to the town of Warrenton, NC.

Benjamin Hudson Thackston, Class of 1858

Thackston became President and Professor of Ancient Languages at Marshall College in Huntington, Virginia, now Marshall University in West Virginia, after his 1858 graduation from Randolph-Macon. He left the college and was a school principal in Putnam County, VA in 1860. He was working as a clerk in the Treasury Department in Richmond, a position he sought in 1862, when he was conscripted into Co. D of the 3rd VA Battalion Infantry Local Defense Troops on August 1, 1863. He spent much of 1864 detailed to the Treasury Department processing payments to the families of deceased soldiers or absent due to illness. He was hospitalized for nephritis at Chimborazo in Richmond, VA from November 25, 1864 through January 1865. He was paroled in Richmond, VA on May 5, 1865.

After the war he returned to West Virginia and taught, once again at Marshall college from 1874-1877 and serving as its principal from 1881-1884, when he left the teaching profession and entered business. He died on August 24, 1918 and is buried in Huntington, WV in Spring Hill Cemetery.

Samuel Downing, Jr., student 1858-1859

Downing attended VMI after leaving R-MC. He enlisted in Co. D of the 9th VA Cavalry on September 26, 1861 as a private. He was discharged on December 13, 1861 to resume his studies at VMI. On March 25, 1862, he enlisted in Co. L of the 55th VA Infantry as second lieutenant. He was wounded August 29, 1862 at the Battle of Second Manassas and again on May 2, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville, VA. He was promoted to captain July 8, 1863. On November 27, 1863 at the Battle of Mine Run, VA, he sustained a third wound, this time in his lower abdomen. During his convalescence in Northumberland County, VA, he was taken prisoner on January 13, 1864. He was sent to the prison camp at Point Lookout, MD and was hospitalized there on January 28, 1864.  Downing was exchanged on March 25, 1864 and he returned to his regiment. He was wounded a fourth time, this time in the arm, on August 18, 1864 at the Battle of Weldon Railroad, VA. He was paroled on May 8, 1865 in Northumberland County, VA.

In 1870, Downing was teaching school in Heathsville, VA. By the time of his death on March 11, 1885, he was living in Maryland.  He is buried in Baltimore in Loudon Park Cemetery.

John Lyon, Class of 1844 (A.B.) and 1847 (A.M.)

Lyon, a lawyer in Petersburg, VA prior to the war, had attended the University of VA in 1848-49 to study law after completing his R-MC degrees. He organized Co. B of the 12th VA Infantry and was commissioned captain of the company on April 19, 1861, having served as a captain of the militia.

After the war, Lyon practiced law in Petersburg. He moved to Richmond in 1873 and continued his law practice, eventually moving to Washington, D.C. Lyon died on November 5, 1897 and is buried in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, VA.

Daniel Lyon, Jr., student 1845-1846

Lyon, who attended The University of VA in 1847-48 after leaving R-MC, was a druggist and tobacconist in Petersburg, VA prior to the war. He enlisted as a private in Co. B of the 12th VA Infantry on March 22, 1862. His older brother John was captain of the company. He was detailed as a hospital steward in April 1862 and was discharged from the 12th VA and promoted to hospital steward in July 1862.  He was recommended to be assigned to the commissary department and at some point promoted to corporal. He was paroled in May of 1865 in Greensboro, NC and his parole  labels him as "bonded agent" for the Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau.

Lyon moved to Brooklyn, NY after the war, where he was engaged in the tobacco trade and in manufacturing. He was retired by 1910 and still residing in Booklyn.