James M. Fitts, student 1862-1863

James Monroe Fitts. Jr. enlisted at the age of 16 in Co. F of the 12th Virginia Infantry as a private on April 18, 1861. He was discharged for being underage on May 17, 1862. He was then sent in 1862 to R-MC, his father James M. Fitt's alma mater (A.B. 1838, A.M. 1841). The college closed in February 1863 for the duration of the war, and on February 20, 1863, Fitts enlisted in Co. A of the 3rd VA Cavalry (the Boydton Cavalry) as a private. He is listed as AWOL in the summer of 1863 but his horse had been killed in action near Aldie, VA in June 1863, so he was likely procuring another mount. He had returned by September 1863. Fitts lost another horse in October, 1863 in battle at Raccoon's Ford, VA. He was hospitalized in Charlottesville, VA in December 1864 with impetigo, was in a hospital in Richmond in February, and listed as deserted on March 16, 1865.

He was a farmer in Mecklenburg County, VA in 1870. By 1880, he had returned to Warren County, NC where he was still farming. He died January 24, 1910 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Warrenton, NC.

James Waddy Davis, student 1861-1862

Davis attended the Medical College of Virginia after leaving R-MC, graduating in the spring 1864. On August 9, 1864, he was joined as Acting Assistant Surgeon. He was assigned to prison hospitals in Richmond, including the prison hospital at Belle Isle in Richmond, VA. In October, he was attached to the 46th VA Infantry On November 13, 1864, he was sent to the General Receiving Hospital in Gordonsville, VA for duty, where he remained until December 18, 1864. He was captured near Amelia Court House, VA on April 3, 1865 and sent to City Point, VA and then to Newport News, VA in late April. On April 28, 1865 he was sent to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., from which he was released on May 9, 1865 after taking the oath of allegiance.

After the war, he practiced medicine in Hanover County until 1874, when he moved to St. Charles County, MO, where he practiced medicine until 1877. He then became editor of the local newspaper Cosmos. He moved to Roanoke, VA in 1888 and became editor of the Roanoke Daily Times, and continued as a newspaper editor. He died in 1924.

Francis Withers Capers, student 1835-1836

Capers attended and graduated from the College of Charleston after leaving R-MC. He was a professor at The Citadel, Transylvania University, and then was appointed superintendent at The Citadel in 1853.  In September 1859, he became Superintendent of the new Georgia Military Academy in Marietta, GA.At the onset of the war, he was responsible for training GA troops. On November 11, 1861, he was appointed brigadier general, charged with guarding the coast. He returned to Georgia Military Academy a year later, but by 1863 was in charge of creating defensive works in Northern Georgia and was teaching military tactics and engineering. He commanded his cadets at the Battle of Atlanta and at other battles in Georgia.

The Georgia Military Institute had been destroyed in the war, so Capers opened his own school in 1865.  He went to the College of Charleston in 1869, where he was a professor of mathematics and civil engineering until 1889, also serving as president 1880-1882. He died January 12, 1891 and is buried in Charleston, SC in Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery.

Abraham F. Cox, student 1853-1854

Cox was a physician in Westmoreland County, VA when he enlisted on May 25, 1861as a sergeant in Co. C of the 9th VA Cavalry. By November 1861, his rank is listed as private. He was taken prisoner on July3, 1863 at Gettysburg and sent to Fort McHenry, MD and then to the prison camp at Fort Delaware, DE.  He was paroled July 30, 1863, and returned to his company. Cox was shot in the left arm at Nance's Shop, VA on June 24, 1864, and hospitalized at Chimborazo in Richmond, VA.

After the war, Cox became a dentist  in Baltimore, MD and then in Alexandria, VA. He died September 16, 1902 and is buried in Saint Paul's Cemetery in Alexandria, VA.

Robert S. Jones, student 1858-1861

Jones, younger brother of Richard Watson Jones, John Randolph Jones, and William Mordecai Jones, enlisted as a private in Co. F of the 12th VA Infantry on June 6, 1861. He transferred to Co. I of the 12th VA Infantry, commanded by his older brother Richard, on May 1, 1862. He was wounded on June 1, 1862 at the Battle of Seven Pines, VA and hospitalized, then sent home to recover until the end of 1862. He was detailed in early 1863 to enroll conscripts, and was then detailed in May 1863 to the Provost Marshal in Weldon, NC. The letter of support from his brother and commanding office, Richard W. Jones, and the letter confirming disability for field service from the regiment's surgeon, James W. Claiborne, indicate Robert S. Jones was a sergeant at that time. He died of disease at home in Hicksford, Greensville County, VA (now part of Emporia, VA) on July 11, 1863.

John Randolph Jones, student 1853-1854

Jones received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1858 and was practicing medicine in Greenville County at the start of the war. He enlisted as a private in Co. F of the 12th VA Infantry on June 6, 1861. He was promoted to corporal on August 20, 1861. On November 24, 1861, his rank was reduced to private at his request and he was detailed on hospital duty. During much of 1862, he was sick with chronic dysentery and was deemed unable to return to field service. He was discharged from the 12th VA Infantry and promoted to hospital steward on December 23, 1862.  He was appointed Assistant Surgeon on June 1, 1864, with the appointment retroactive to December 29, 1863. He was paroled in Albany, GA on May 16, 1865.

Dr. Jones returned to Hicksford, Greenville County, VA, now part of Emporia, VA, and farmed and practiced medicine. His widow's pension application states that he died of kidney disease on March 24, 1904. His obituary in the Journal of the American Medical Association lists the date of death as March 25, and his tombstone indicates the death date as March 27. He is buried in Emporia Cemetery in Emporia, VA.

William Mordecai Jones, Class of 1860

Jones, the younger brother of Richard Watson Jones, was teaching school when he enlisted on May 4, 1861 as a private in the Greensville Guard, which became Co. F of the 5th Battalion VA Infantry. He was discharged on May 16, 1862. An 1888 biographical sketch in Brock's Virginia and Virginians indicates he served in Petersburg, VA in the Quartermaster Department for the remainder of the war.

After the war, Jones taught from 1865-1871 at Wesleyan Female College. He then moved to Norfolk, Va and became a partner in the commission merchant firm of Jones, Lee, and Co. A prominent businessman, he also served as chairman of the Norfolk school board and was the treasurer for the board of the city water commissioners. He died April 15, 1908 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk, VA.

Thomas Crawford Campbell, student 1856-1857

Campbell was working as an apothecary in Petersburg, VA in 1860. He enlisted as a private in Co. E of the 12th VA Infantry on March 22, 1862. He was detailed to the Medical Purveyor's Office in Wilmington, NC and spent the next 2 years acquiring medical supplies. In 1864 he was appointed hospital steward and served as apothecary after his regiment recalled him and he was given a certificate of disability due to rheumatism.

He was a grocery clerk in Petersburg, VA in 1870, and was working as a clerk at the time of his death. He died on October 31, 1895 and is buried in Petersburg, VA in Blandford Cemetery.

Richard Dabney Thackston, student 1859-1861

Thackston enlisted as a private on August 17, 1861 in Co. D of the 18th VA Infantry. In 1862, he transferred to Co. F of the 18th VA Infantry upon reenlistment. In June and August he is listed as sick and absent, and in October 1862 he was detailed to the hospital at Camp Lee in Richmond,VA, as a nurse, staying until at least February 1863.  By April, he was again back with his company.  He was taken prisoner at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863 and sent to the prison camp at Fort Delaware, DE, where he remained until he was exchanged on February 8, 1865 upon taking the oath of allegiance.

Oliver H. P. Terrell, student 1850-1851

Terrell, a farmer in Orange County at the beginning of the war, enlisted in the Albemarle (VA) Light Artillery as a private on July 15, 1861. He was discharged for disability due to rheumatism on July 29, 1861. A letter in support of his discharge indicates he was prone to "violent and frequent attacks of inflammatory rheumatism, brough on by the slightest exertion." In 1862, a Confederate field hospital was located on Terrell's farm. On August 1, 1863, he became a private in Co. D of the 20th VA Battalion Heavy Artillery, probably conscripted back into the service. He was detailed as a clerk to Major Selden from October 16, 1863 until at least April 1864, when he was detailed as an "agriculturalist," returning to his farm "Glencoe," near Grodonsville, VA. Numerous receipts for crops received by the Confederates from Terrell still exist. Terrell was considered AWOL after Dec. 19, 1864 when his detail was expired and on February 26, 1865, his captain requested that Terrell's detail be revoked and that Terrell return to the company. By late March of 1865, Terrell was again requesting to be examined for discharge due to disability.

Afte rthe war, he returned to farming in Orange County, VA, moving to Louisa County by 1900. He died on March 22, 1922 and is buried in the Terrell Family Cemetery off Route 732 in Orange, County, VA.