JANUARY 15, 1864:
"Four
years have dealt us many sad blows." Of the 19 young men who graduated
Ashland, Virginia’s Randolph-Macon College in 1859, five would die as a result of
their military service, three from wounds and two from illness, a more than 25%
mortality rate for the class. Others would be wounded, in some cases multiple
times; for some, their health would be compromised for the rest of their lives.
Stlll others would spend time in harsh conditions as prisoners of war. Leroy
Edwards, who would spend a year in the infamous Union POW camp at Elmira, New
York, kept a copy of the graduation program for the Class of 1859 that includes
his pencilled annotations "died" and "killed" next to the
names of his classmates who did not survive the war.
