James Newton Ramsey, student 1839-1840

Born June 21, 1821, James N. Ramsey of Newton County, Georgia attended Randolph-Macon College from 1839 to 1840. On April 3, 1861 he was commisioned into Confederate service as colonel of the 1st Georgia Volunteer Infantry, the first regiment organized for service by the state of Georgia and the first Georgia regiment to see combat. The regiment was officially mustered in on March 18, 1861 at Macon, Georgia (the date on which its various companies offered their services to the governor of Georgia) and was composed of companies from Newman, Perry, Augusta, Sandersville, Atlanta, Bainbridge, Quitman, Dahlonega, and Columbus, Georgia. The 1st Georgia and Colonel Ramsey saw service with R. S. Garnett and H. R. Jackson in western Virginia, during Lee's Cheat Mountain Campaign as well as with Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. Ramsey was mustered out of service on March 18, 1862 (although other records suggest that he may have resigned as early as December 3 or December 11, 1861) due to poor health. From December 11, 1861, the 1st Georgia was under the commander of James O. Clarke. On March 18, 1862, the 1st Georgia was mustered out at Macon, Georgia at its members formed new units or were folded into existing ones. Many of its members joined the 12th Georgia Artillery Battalion and many others the 53rd Georgia Infantry.

James N. Ramsey returned to Columbus, Georgia and practiced law. He died on November 10, 1870 in Columbus, Georgia of "congestion" and was buried in Linwood Cemetery.

Richard W. Jones, class of 1857 (A.B.) and 1860 (A.M.)

Richard W. Jones was born on May 16, 1837 in Greensville County, Virginia. He graduated at the top of his class at Randolph-Macon in 1857. In 1861 he received his Master's degree from the University of Virginia. Soon following his graduation from there, he entered Confederate service, eventually raising his own company of infantry of which he was elected and commissioned captain. He would later rise to the rank of major and finally lieutenant colonel. Jones surrendered while serving with the 12th Virginia Infantry on April 9, 1865 at Appommatox Court House. After the war, Jones was a professor at Randolph-Macon, president of Martha Washington College, professor at the University of Mississippi and president of the State Industrial Institute and College in Columbus, Mississippi. He died Dec. 18, 1914 in Laurel, MS. 

Nathaniel Wilson Baptist, student 1859-1862 and 1865-1968

Baptist, who had attended the R-MC Preparatory Department prior to the war, enlisted on May 27, 1863 at the age of 16 in Co. A of Farinholt's 1st VA Reserves.  He was elected 2nd lieutenant in April, 1864. He was promoted to first lieutenant on July 18, 1864. He was transferred as a private in February 1865 to Co. A of the 18th VA Infantry when he turned 18. He was taken prisoner on April 6, 1865 at Sailor's Creek, VA and sent to the prison camp at Point Lookout, MD, where he remained until taking the oath of allegiance on June 24, 1865.

A native of Mecklenburg County, he entered college at R-MC after the war, remaining through 1868 when the school relocated to Ashland. He moved to Memphis, TN in 1869 and then to Tipton County, TN where he worked in the grocery business until 1875, when he started work in the county court. He became a lawyer in 1882.  He died on July 4, 1915 and is buried in R. H. Munford Cemetery in Covington, TN.

John H. Addington, student 1859-1860

Addington enlisted on August 24, 1861 as a private in Co. E of the 4th Mounted Kentucky Infantry. He was wounded April 7, 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh and left on the field where he was taken prisoner. He was admitted on April 13, 1862 to No. 2 USA General Hospital in Louisville, KY, where he died on May 12, 1862.

William Irvine Cowles, Class of 1857 (A.B.) and 1860 (A.M.)

Cowles was the older brother of R-MC alumni Henry Brown Cowles, Jr., and James R. Cowles and son to Rev. Henry Brown Cowles, an influential Methodist minister and agent for Randolph-Macon College.  In 1860, he was living with his parents and siblings in Petersburg, VA, with no occupation listed and an indication he was attending school. He enlisted in the 21st Texas Cavalry as a private but was shortly made 1st lieutenant and assistant adjutant. A diary by his wife indicates his rank at the end of the war as captain.

Cowles was married in New Orleans in May 1866 and returned to Virginia. In 1870, he was living in Prince George County, VA, with his parents, wife and children and is listed as a farmer. He moved to Texas in the 1870s (probably after his father's death in 1874) where he was a professor and principal of the Methodist Female Academy and professor and president of North Texas Female College, both in Sherman, TX, in the late 1870s.  In the 1880 census, he is listed as a teacher in Terrell, TX. Later in the 1880s, he was a school teacher and school superintendant in Van Zandt County, TX. He was still teaching school in 1900. Cowles died December 21, 1904.

Robert Stringfellow Walker, student 1859-1861

Walker attended Randolph-Macon College from 1859 to 1861. He served in Co. B of Mosby's Partisan Rangers, later known as Co. B of the 43rd Battalion VA Cavalry . He was wounded near Mount Zion, VA, on July 6, 1864. Walker was promoted to captain on February 9, 1865, with a letter of support from Colonel Mosby commending his valor and skill.

 Walker is mentioned in James J. Williamson's 1896 book, "Mosby's Rangers." Williamson writes that,

"One part of 100 (Twenty-first New York) came to Upperville before daylight, from which place they send a detachment to the house of Jesse Richards (father of Major Richards) and surrounded it. There were in the house at the time Major Richards, Capt. Robert S. Walker and private John Hipkins. Hearing a rap at the door, Captain Walker got up and was about to open it, when one of the Federal soldiers growing impatient, thundered away at the door with the butt of his carbine. Walker immediately went back and he and the others hid themselves. Upon forcing open the door, the Federals struck a light and searched the house, but did not succeed in finding Richards or his companions, thought they got most of their clothes. They ransacked the drawer and closet in the house, taking silverware and everything they pleased."*

Robert S. Walker survived the war and in 1889 founded Woodberry Forest School, a private male boarding school still in existence, near Orange, VA. He had resided at Woodberry Forest since the early 1870s.  He died March 14, 1914 and is buried in Graham Cemetery in Orange, VA.

*Williamson, James J. Mosby's Rangers. New York: Ralph B. Kenyon, Publisher, 1896.

Benjamin Shepard Herring, student 1870-1874

Herring enlisted as a private on June 1, 1864 in Co. B of the 7th NC Battalion Junior Reserves.  He was promoted to corporal, and then served as sergeant when the company was redesignated as Co. D of the 3rd NC Jr. Reserves. He was hospitalized January 12, 1865 in C.S.A. General Hospital No. 3 in Greensboro, NC with scabies. His service included guard duty at Smithville, NC. He was at Fort Fisher in Wilmington, NC, and he engaged in a battle near Kinston, NC.

 After the war, Herring taught school and attended Randolph-Macon College, leaving after the 1870-71 school year but returning soon after. He became a Methodist minister, serving in the Virginia Conference from 1874 until 1912. Herring died June 25, 1930.

Marcellus Stanley, Class of 1841

Stanley, a mathematics teacher at the University of Georgia, enlisted as captain of Georgia's Troop Artillery, later part of Cobb's Legion Artillery. He was ill much of the first year and resigned in April 1862. After having recovered fully, he was appointed chief of artillery and served he was promoted to major of artillery on the staff of Brigadier General Howell Cobb and sent to Quincy, FL in January 1863, where he served in an administrative capacity under several different generals.

Although he had taught mathematics and natural science before the war at Franklin College in GA, Centenary College in LA, Wesleyan Female College in GA, and the University of Georgia in addition to serving a year as secretary to Ambassador Henry Hilliard, Stanley did not return to teaching after the war. He returned to Athens, GA and became a farmer and was became a director of the Southern Mutual Insurance Company. he died may 20, 1890 and is buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, GA.

Julius Alexander Robbins, student 1851-1852

Robbins, younger brother of William McKendree Robbins, attended the University of North Carolina after R-MC. He was a lawyer in Selma, Alabama at the beginning of the war as was his brother William. He enlisted as a private in Co. D of the 8th Alabama Infantry on May 10, 1861. He served as captain and Assistant Quartermaster in the 8th AL Infantry from June 1861 until resigning the role of Assistant Quartermaster on September 30, 1863. His resignation letter indicates his desire to avenge three of his brothers who had been killed in battle by that date.  He would be the fourth of the 6 Robbins brothers to die in battle. He was killed June 9, 1864 at Mount Sterling, KY during a raid by General John Hunt Morgan's cavalry on Union forces in the town. Although his body was not recovered, his family erected a memorial stone at Hopewell United Methodist Church Cemetery in Trinity, NC. It is not known when or where he joined Morgan's Raiders.

William McKendree Robbins, Class of 1851 (A.B.) and 1854 (A.M.)

Robbins, brother of Julius Alexander Robbins (student 1851-1852)  taught for several years in North Carolina and Alabama after his graduation from R-MC and then became a lawyer in Selma, Alabama. He enlisted on April 24, 1861 as 1st lieutenant in Co. G of the 4th AL Infantry, a unit he helped organize. He was promoted to captain on May 2, 1862 and to major on October 3, 1863. He was wounded in the face and head May 6, 1864 at the Battle of the Wilderness. Robbins  surrendered at Appomattox Court House, VA on April 9, 1865.

William was one of only 2 of the 6 Robbins brothers to survive the war. After the war, he moved from Alabama back to his native North Carolina, where he practiced law and served in both the state legislature and in the US Congress. He also served an important role from 1894 until his death in 1905 as the Confederate representative on the three-member Gettysburg National Military Park Commission, also known as the Gettysburg Battlefield Commission.  He died May 3, 1905 and is buried in Oakville Cemetery in Statesville, NC.