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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.