J. (Jesse) Harper Shelton, student 1845-1846

Shelton, a lawyer in  Sussex County, VA in the 1860 census, operated a school at Coppahaunk Springs near Waverly, VA when he enlisted on May 24, 1861 as a private in the Sussex Sharpshooters, Co. A of the 41st VA Infantry. He spent much of his time in service detailed as a clerk in the Quarter Masters Dept., and refused to reenlist in the spring of 1862 when his original term of enlistment ended, claiming exemption due to age. He was discharged in march 1862, only to be drafted back into his company in april 1862. He remained in service until he was discharged on September 6, 1862 as overage under the Conscript Act.

In 1866, Shelton became justice of the Sussex County Court. Censuses from 1870-1900 list him as a farmer. He served on the county Board of Supervisors from 1880-1882 and also taught school sometime in the early 1880s. Shelton died on Dec. 14, 1909 and is buried in Montrose Cemetery in Littleton, Sussex County, VA.

Thomas P. Atkinson, student in the preparatory dept. 1847-1848

Atkinson, son of a wealthy planter in Baldwin County, AL, attended the preparatory school in 1847-1848. It is unknown whether he continued his schooling at R-MC or elsewhere before enrolling as a freshman at the University of Alabama in 1851, only attending for one year.  He was a planter/farmer in Baldwin county at the outbreak of the war. Atkinson enlisted on April 24, 1861 as a private in the Mobile Rifles, which became Co. K of the 3rd AL Infantry. It is unknown how long he served in this unit. By October 1864, he was serving as 1st lieutenant in Captain English's Co., an independent mounted infantry company that operated in the area near Mobile, AL.

After the war, Atkinson returned to Baldwin County, AL and farmed. He died on August 1, 1907 and is buried in Montgomery Hill Cemetery in Tensaw, Baldwin County, AL.

Thomas F. Owens, student 1833-1837

Owens was a dry goods merchant in Norfolk, VA at the beginning of the war when he enlisted on April 19, 1861 as 2nd lieutenant of Co. H of the 12th VA Infantry, the Norfolk Junior Volunteers. He was elected captain of the company on May 1, 1862. In early 1862, he was hospitalized in Richmond, VA due to illness and in late summer was on detached service and serving as the regiment's quarter master. Owens was captured at the Battle of Chancellorsville on April 30, 1863 and taken to Aquia, VA and then sent on to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC on May 1, 1863. Owens was paroled on May 18, 1863. He was again listed as on sick leave in Dec. 1863, but had returned to the company by the spring of 1864. In late summer 1864, he had extra duty as acting assistant quarter master. He was paroled at Appomattox Court House, VA on april 9, 1865.

He returned to Norfolk, VA, where he became a founding member and first master of a masonic lodge named after him, the Owens Lodge. In 1869, Owens became the Grand Master of Masons in Virginia. He died on May 17, 1878 and is buried in Norfolk, VA in Cedar Grove Cemetery.

William J. Carter, student 1858-1861

Carter enlisted in Co. G of the 38th VA Infantry on May 18, 1861 as a sergeant. In January 1862, he applied for a commission as lieutenant or captain. Carter indicated in his letter requesting promotion that "circumstances are so unpleasant as to utterly preclude the possibility of my reenlisting in my present company."  He remained with the company and was promoted to 2nd lieutenant on April 29, 1862 and to 1st lieutenant on November 15, 1863. In the late summer of 1864, he was admitted to Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond, VA with onychia and paronychia, which are inflammation of the nail bed and surrounding area due to infection. He returned to duty in October, 1864. He surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 and is listed as commanding the company.


After the war, he returned to Mecklenburg County, VA where he was a druggist in the 1870 census. by 1880, he was a teacher and eventually became a principal in the county schools. He died September 25, 1897 and is buried in Boydton, VA in the Boydton Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

Oliver Perry Williams, Class of 1841

Williams was a wealthy lawyer and planter in Colleton County, SC at the beginning of the war, and he had served in the South Carolina legislature. He served as captain of the local reserve unit, Co. K of the 11th Regiment South Carolina Reserves from Nov. 1, 1862 until its dissolution in February 1863. He requested on Jan. 24, 1864 to be appointed an agent for the Confederacy rather than serve in the army. Williams supplied significant amounts of goods to the Confederate army in 1863 and 1864.

After the war, he continued to practice law and to farm in Colleton County, SC, where he died on April 28, 1881. He is buried at Pon Pon Chapel Cemetery, also known as Burnt Church Burial Ground, in Colleton County, SC.

Christopher Dudley Hill, Class of 1838

Hill, a wealthy planter in Duplin County, NC,  is listed as colonel of the 31st regiment of the North Carolina Militia in an 1846 report by North Carolina's Adjuntant General, and appears as "Col. C. D. Hill" in numerous newspaper and directory publications during his entire life. Hill provided the Confederate Army with a large amount of supplies in 1863 and 1864, and in late 1864 was serving as the acting enrolling officer for Duplin County. Hill took the oath of allegiance on May 24, 1865. His application for presidential pardon, dated June 27, 1865, claims that he "was strongly opposed to the breaking up of the Union and gave no aid to the Confederate Government until in the fall of 1863..." when he was conscripted into the army, however, an April 25, 1861 article in the Wilmington Journal shows that he was elected one of three vice presidents of the newly formed States Rights Association for Duplin County.

Hill continued to be a prominent citizen of Duplin County, NC after the war, where he served as a trustee of Faison's high school, as county commissioner, and as a justice of the peace. He died on August 1, 1874.

John McKendree Jeffries, student 1856-1857

Jeffries (variantly spelled Jefferies), was the son of a wealthy farmer in Cumberland County, VA when he enlisted on May 14, 1861 as a private in Co. G of the 3rd VA Cavalry, the Cumberland Light Dragoons. He was promoted to corporal on March 20, 1862, and by July 1863, he is listed on company rolls as a sergeant. Jeffries was wounded in the hand and his horse was killed by artillery fire at Funkstown, MD on July 10, 1863. He was taken first to the General Hospital in Charlottesville, VA on July 15, 1863 and then sent to the General Hospital in Scottsville, VA, where he was admitted on July 16, 1863. He applied for an extension to his medical leave and was examined at the General Hospital in Farmville, VA on Jan. 2, 1864, but the extension was denied. On March 22, 1864, he applied for an examination for retirement and after examination was listed on April 4, 1864 as "fit for light duty in field." He was paroled on April 28, 1865 at Farmville, VA.

After the war, Jeffries returned to Cumberland County, VA, where he was a farmer in the 1870 and 1880 censuses. He died November 9, 1891.

William L. Skinner, student 1856-1857

Skinner was a student in Warren County, NC at the time of his enlistment as a private in Co. F of the 12th NC Infantry on April 18, 1861. On June 25, 1861 he was made commissary sergeant and then transferred into Co. K of the 14th NC Infantry. He transferred into and was promoted to ordnance sergeant for the 56th NC Infantry on September 15, 1862. On May 20, 1863, records indicate he was discharged for promotion but no further record of him has been found at this time, and he disappears from the historical record, with a younger brother inheriting the family plantation, Linden Hall, in Warren County, NC.

James E. Ballou, student 1857-1858

Ballou did not officially enlist in a military company but was killed while fighting in the Battle of Ball's Bluff near Leesburg, VA on October 21, 1861. Clement A. Evans writes in volume 3 of his Confederate Military History that Ballou "...was on business at Memphis, Tenn., when the war began, and on his way to Virginia fell in with a Mississippi regiment bound for Manassas, which he joined. At the battle of Ball's Bluff, his first encounter with the enemy, he was shot through the body and killed." The Mississippi regiment he fought with was the 13th MS Infantry.

Richard H. B. Day, student 1852-1853

Day was principal of Buckhannon Institure in Buckhannon, VA (now WV) in 1860. He enlisted on August 23, 1863 as a private in Co. B of the 46th Battalion VA Cavalry, which later became the 26th VA Cavalry. He was detailed as a nurse at the General Hospital in Charlottesville, VA on September 17, 1863. During his time in Charlottesville,Day attended medical school at the University of Virginia in 1864.

Dr. Day died of tuberculosis on Jan. 22, 1871 and is buried in Washington, D.C. in Congressional Cemetery.