Interesting read; never forget real people real places!
John R.

The following information was published in the Banner Press in Advance, MO and written by Edward D. Virgin; 395 N. Blaine Ave, Bradley, IL 60915:

Virgin Family and Civil War

No taps were sounded, or shots fired over their graves. Nor were there any crowds, roll calls, flags, or floral pieces, but they were remembered. It is true these veterans were few in number, only four. It is also true that the way in which they were remembered may have been a little disturbing to their peaceful slumber. Few people alive today knew these veterans, or even heard their names. They were not generals, heroes, or otherwise famous. They were what is meant by the phrase, "Common ordinary people." But each in his own way made sacrifices, and gave a part of his life for his country, his loved ones and his fellow man. No more, or less than many other veterans. However, it seems that the common ordinary people are too often overlooked for the more glamorous, dashing and colorful ones. Before we relate how these veterans were remembered, it is only fitting that a part of the role which they played on the stage of life be reviewed.

First there was Anderson Virgin, Company K, 3rd Missouri State Militia, Cavalry Volunteers, born in 1819 in Missouri Territory, probably in Cape Girardeau County, married September 15, 1842 at Andrew May's residence, on Cane Creek then located in Cape Girardeau County but now in Bollinger, by Rev. Benjamin Clark, to Mary May, daughter of Andrew May. It was the first marriage for both of them. They lived here until after 1850, went to Arkansas, and then returned here about three years before the Civil War. They had eleven children, most of them married and lived their lives in the Zalma, Dongola, Lutesville, Advance area. Some of their descendants and friends are still to be found here.

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His certificate of disability for discharge from the army of the United States, dated August 7, 1862, describes Anderson Virgin as being 43 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches tall, light complexion, blue eyes, light hair, and by occupation a farmer. The reason given for his discharge was chronic rheumatism, caused by exposure while on scouting duty depriving him of the full use of his lower limbs. But the story as told in over 90 documents in the National Archives, Washington, D.C., consisting of various letters, affidavits, depositions, and forms executed by him, his comrades in arms, friends, relatives and government agents give a more complete story.

Although by present day military standards he would have been considered too old to have been accepted, Anderson Virgin enlisted as a private in Captain Roby's Company B, Murdoch's Battin., Fremont Rangers on August 8, 1861 and served until it was disbanded on December 12, 1861. The same day he and most of the men from this company, at Cape Girardeau, enrolled in Captain Lindsay Murdoch's Company A, 12th Regimant, Missouri State Militia Cavalry, which was later known as Co. K, 3rd Regiment. It is interesting to note that the Adjutant General's Office, of the War Department, said there were no rolls or other records in their office, than the books of Hawkins Taylor Commission, of Co. B, Fremont Rangers, so Anderson Virgin had to wait until August 28, 1865 when he was paid \$49.50 for the full time that his company served.

In the fall of 1861, while serving with the Fremont Rangers, on a six week scout in the swamps of Southeast Missouri, without camp equipment, blankets, or proper clothing, he was exposed to all kinds of weather and had to sleep on the ground. the exposure while on this scout was attributed as the original cause of his rheumatism. After that scout, in the winter of 1861-62, he was sent to the Post Hospital at Cape Girardeau and remained there near two months. He was discharged from the hospital on sick furlough and while returning to the hospital was captured by a band of Rebels and taken to Arkansas. While with them he was compelled to swim rivers, ride all day and sometimes sleep on the ground in wet clothes.

He applied for a discharge in July 1862 and before it was received, he suffered a terrible wound which eventually caused his death 15 years later.

The wounding of Anderson Virgin on August 1, 1862 occurred while the Company was in quarters at Pattersonville (now Patterson), Wayne County, Missouri, probably at the old Hill Fort, where the earthworks are still in evidence and can be seen.

He was stooping over sorting his underclothing and putting them in a bag to give to a washer woman, when a pistol in the hands of Hiram Driscol, a good friend and fellow soldier, was accidentally discharged while it was being cleaned and oiled. The bullet struck the left jaw, ranged down through his neck and lodged on the right side near the collar bone, where it remained the rest of his life.

Randolph James (an eye witness) was standing by the side of him when he was shot; Eric Pape, 2nd Lieutenant in the same company, saw him wounded and employed Doctor Black to dress the wound because the regimental surgeon was at Pilot Knob.

James Virgin, Anderson's brother, of the same company, was present and saw him at the time he received the wound. Enoch Virgin, another brother, was present, heard the shot and saw him immediately after, with blood spouting out of the wound. Conrad Crites and William R. Underwood were present and helped to hold him up until a place was fixed for him, and they placed him on his cot.

His wife was sent for by an escort or guard of four soldiers, which she believed to be members of her husband's company: William Johns, Cannon Taylor, John Massey, and Jake Curtis. When she got there she found her husband on a cot in a church house which was being used for a hospital, and she could hear his breathing outside the house. Dr. Black and Dr. Mattox were the attending physicians. She nursed him and they stayed there about a week or two They were later taken to Greenville, Wayne County, where they stayed with Benjamin or Lewis Holmes, who lived in Greenville. She stayed there about a week and his neck was not healed when she left for home. It should be noted here that his discharge for rheumatism was dated six days after his wounding.

David G. Borders, who was later to become his son-in-law, had occasion to be in Greenville, about the month of August, with an ox team, having hauled a man's wife from Bollinger to Wayne County and he hauled Virgin back to his home In Bollinger County.

Virgin remained home about two months and then went back to his company, for he could not stay at home for fear the Rebels would kill him. They tried to kill him once and he went back and stayed with the Army until he got ready to move to Illinois.

In the spring of 1863 he moved to Union County, Illinois, six to eight miles north of Cobden, about a mile from Walker's Mill, close to his wife's brother, Hamilton May. There he bought a small place.

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Up to this point the foregoing narration has purposely avoided relating the explicit gruesomely vivid, and pathetic details of how his wound, with the lead ball still in his body, adversely affected his eating, breathing, mannerisms, ability to perform manual labor, and his health. But to explain his death, which occurred on the night of May 7, 1877, it can be summarized by saying that starting within six months after his discharge from the Army, the wound periodically have risings on his throat which would eventually rupture with a copious discharge. The first three were on the outside of his throat and then they started forming and rupturing on the inside. The last, being too low in the throat, was fatal. Lynn B. (or Dock) Adams, who lived about two miles away, was sent for. He was with Anderson Virgin when he died, and helped lay him out.

Although Anderson Virgin made out an application for invalid pension and power of attorney on June 25, 1868, wherein he appointed Wilson and Burrough, Cape Girardeau, as his attorney to prosecute his claim, he was not awarded a pension until December 26,1876, at the rate of \$3 a month. Financially his widow faired much better. In addition to the homestead left her, she at three different times collected "quite a sum" from the government. She applied for and obtained Anderson's accrued pension (from the date of his discharge to the date his pension started). The second sum was her initial widow's pension, and the third being arranged under the Act of June 7, 1888 increasing the widow's rate from $8 to $12 a month. She was last paid to May 4, 1898 and dropped from the pension rolls because of her remarriage.

Neither Anderson Virgin or his wife could sign their names, but James B. Ricks, special examiner, U.S. Pension Bureau, Cape Girardeau, in his report to Washington, D.C., dated May 18, 1887, gives a fitting description and epithet, as follows: "Anderson

Virgin, the soldier was a good man, thoroughly truthful and well respected by all who knew him. His widow, the claimant, is also respected of the pioneer class. They have little use for doctors and would more quickly believe in the gatherer of "roots and herbs" than the educated physician."

The second veteran of the four remembered this year, was Enoch Virgin, Company K, 3rd Missouri State Militia, Cavalry Volunteers, a brother to Anderson and James H. Virgin. He was born April 22, 1830 in what is now Bollinger County. He first married Sarah M. Sepp (Stepp?), who died in September 1858. Six months after being mustered out of service, on July 16, 1865 he wed Ellizabeth (Shearen) Crites, widow of Andrew Crites.

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His "Declaration for an Original Invalid Pension," dated November 26, 1881, described Enoch Virgin as being 51 years of age, 5 feet 11 inches tall, fair complexion, dark eyes, and dark hair. He enlisted as a private in the Bollinger County Home Guards Volunteers, commanded by Captain Daniel Shell, July 9, 1861. On July 18, 1861 he was captured by the Confederate forces commanded by Captain Jason H. Hunter, who was well known to Enoch and others of his company.

Enoch believed that they were going to kill him, so when the opportunity presented itself, he broke loose from the guards, by jerking loose from two men that were holding him, and ran to save his life. The Rebels fired several shots at him. One of them struck him in the left leg causing a painful wound above the knee. The bullet lodged in his leg and remained there the rest of his life, causing a slight limp.

Troy W. Shell of his company, and also a prisoner at that time was an eye witness to his wounding and successful escape. The Rebels thought they had killed him, because Randolph James, of Enoch's Company, was captured about three hours after Enoch was shot and Captain Hunter, who was well known to Randolph James told him that they had killed Enoch Virgin that morning. Such was not the case however, because about 10 days later Randolph James saw Enoch Virgin. He was suffering from the gunshot wound, was
using crutches, and he was at his home.

In later years, the federal govenment considered this service to have been in a state organization and disallowed a pension claim for the disability caused by this wound.

When the Bollinger County Home Guards were disbanded, Enoch Virgin enlisted in Captain Robys Company B, Murdoch's Battalion Fremont Rangers, August 12, 1861, and continued in that service until it was disbanded on December 12, 1861. The same day he enlisted as a corporal in Captain Lindsay Murdoch's Company 11th Battalion, Mounted Riflemen, Missouri Militia at Cape Girardeau. This military organization subsequently became Company A, 12th Regiment Missouri State Militia Cavalry and on February 4, 1863 was transferred to the 3rd Regiment Missouri State Militia Cavalry as Company K.

While on picket duty, during a skirmish, Enoch's horse was killed on April 8, 1862. It was valued at \$75. The terseness of military records do not give further details of this action. They do not show that he was on several assignments as a scout and that he was promoted to 5th duty sergeant, January 1, 1863.

In the Battle of Pilot Knob, Iron County, on September 27, 1864 he incurred severe deafness of both ears. It was just previous to the last charge of the rebel forces on Fort Davidson that Enoch Virgin, who had been on scouting duty, entered the fort and was immediately assigned, by General Ewing, to take charge of a siege gun. Enoch was informed that the gun was double shotted with grape shot. He took charge of the gun and was preparing to place the same in battery and while observing the advancing Rebels, preparatory to pointing the gun, the gunner in charge of the lanyard discharged the gun without orders. The explosion dismounted the gun and Enoch who was standing close by was stunned by the report, completely deafened and remained so for several days thereafter. The hearing of both his ears was permanently affected. William Nevin, 1st duty sergeant, who had also been in the Fremont Rangers with him, was in the fort with Enoch Virgin and was wounded there.

Enoch retreated with the command first to Leesburg and then to Rolla. Some of the other men that were on this retreat with Virgin were Johnson M. Shell, Lutesville; James C. Steakly, Patton; Allison H. Mowrie, Flllmore Township, and 1st Lt. Erich Pape, who was the only officer with the company. The captain, G.W. Hummel, had been dismissed June 8, 1864 and the 2nd Lt. William M. Brawner, had died on September 20, 1864, prior to the Battle of Pilot Knob The horses of most of the company, including Enoch's were captured so the retreat had to be made on foot, and they had to wade streams of water, sleep on the ground, in wet clothes without shelter, and the weather was cold and inclement. The Rebels were pressing their forces all the time and they were frequently formed into lines of battle to resist attacks and drive the Rebels back.

At Leesburg where they made a stand, they had to throw up defenses.

On the night they left Pilot Knob it was raining very hard and it was very dark. Enoch Virgin tied a white handkerchief around his neck and said he would go in the lead expecting them to see the white handkerchief and follow. Such was not the case due to the darkness and rain and he became lost.

At Leesburg he was witnessed digging rifle pits, in the cold muddy ground, and he had contracted a bad cough and cold which settled in his lungs. He continued, in this sick condition, on to Rolla. In the middle of November, 1864, when John D. Robbins a member of the same company, saw Enoch, at Winter Street Barracks, St. Louis, he was trying to doctor his cold by taking Jaynes Expectorant. Robins stole Enoch's Jaynes Expectorant because he thought it was whiskey, and it made Enoch very mad. Here Enoch looked in bad health, had a bad cough and complained to William Newin, who had returned to his company after getting some better from the wound he received at Pilot Knobb, about the hardship he had undergone during the Price raid.

After moving to Schofleld Barracks, St. Louis, the command was ordered to proceed to St. Joseph, by railroad, about the middle of December 1864. They were transported in stock cars. Virgin was still suffering from the effects of cold and had a bad cough when they left St. Louis. He got worse, very sick, from the cold and exposure on the trip. On arrival at St. Joseph, the command didn't get any quarters and had to camp out on the street. Enoch got so bad he was sent to the post hospital December 24, 1864 and was there until January 20, 1865. He was still sick and continued so after his discharge on January 31, 1865. Shortly after his discharge, William Nevin and Enoch, about February 12, 1865, both went to Ironton then to St. Louis on February 16,1865,to Cape Girardeau on the 119th and on to Dallas, now Marble Hill, on the 28th of that month.

They started to return to Cape Girardeau on March 2, 1865, with the intention of returning to St. Louis. But on the morning of March 3, Enoch became too weak to go any longer and Nevin left him at the house of Andrew Taylor, near Jackson. At that time he was complaining of his breast and had a cough. The next time they met was at Marble Hill about July 8, of that year and he was still suffering from the breast complaint, had a cough and looked bad. His lung trouble continued and progressively got worse. When Lewis Storz who had been in the Fremont Rangers with Enoch and had not seen him since 1869, saw him in the fall of 1875, when Enoch was a shoe cobbler, he reported he didn't look like the same man.

Enoch Virgin was pensioned by the U.S. Government at \$4 a month on December 1, 1881, for a disability from disease of the lungs; which rate was increased to $8 per month from May 14, 1890 and to $14 from June 3, 1891. A report of a medical examination, by an examining board of three surgeons, dated August 17, 1892, reads in part as follows: "Left lung normal, right lung atrophied down to 5th rib, chest shrunk away on this side." ~

He was a member of Erich Pape Post 184 Mo., G.A.R., Zalma. Some of the members of this post who signed a letter to the commissioner of pensions dated May 7, 1887, on Enoch's behalf were Monsue Hindman, post commander; William Nevin, past post commander; Joseph E. Baker, adjt.; Laban Green; Rainey Sears, chaplain; Lewis Storz, post quartermaster; Charles Sando; John C. Gregory, O. guard; Hiram A. Pickett, com.; W.R. Underwood, com.; Elias Wells, S.V., and Randolph James, post commander of Post No. 100, Dept. of Mo. G.A.R.

On February 10, 1868 Enoch Virgin, for \$10, bought 40 acres of land from Samuel Virgin and Fany Virgin his wife, consisting of the SE quarter of the SW quarter of Section 15, T29N, R9E. He must have subsequently added to his farm, because on November 11, 1901 when he and his wife, Elizabeth (Crites) Virgin, sold it to his son, Samuel G. Virgin, he then transferred 100 acres. This was known as Enoch's old home place. It is suspected that the Samuel and Fany Virgin, from whom he purchased the original 40 acres, were his parents.

Enoch Virgin died December 18, 1905. His wife drew a widow's pension and at the time of her death, September 1, 1915, was drawing \$36 a month. She is reported to have been buried in the Crites Cemetery in Bollinger County.

THE THIRD VETERAN to be remembered this year, was Private James H. Virgin, Co. K, 3rd Mo. State Militia Cavalry, Volunteers, a brother to Anderson and Enoch Virgin. He was 19 years old when he enlisted January 20, 1862 In Captain Flentz's Company, Missouri State Militia, at Cape Girardeau. On March 1, 1862, he was transferred, by mutual agreement of company commanders to Co. A, 11th Battalion Mounted Riflemen, Missouri State Militia. This transfer put him in the same company with his brothers.

On April 8, 1862 in an engagement near Jackson, he was wounded. The Company Muster Rolls show, for May and June 1862, him as "sick in hospital,; May and June 1863, "sick at Fredericktown, Mo; November and December 1864, "at hospital, Ironton, Mo." He was mustered out, with the company in St. Louis, January 31, 1865.

According to John A. Pickett, of Zalma, who knew him after the war closed until he died, on September 7, 1879 at Zalma, James had a cough and was very weak breasted. It grew worse from time to time until it showed to everybody who knew him that he had comsumption and while he was not confined to his bed, he was an invalid confined to his house and the confinements of his home unable to work and lingered along, some days better and some days worse, until he took to his bed in his final sickness.

James H. Virgin married at Bollingers Mill (now Zalma) January 21, 1866 Mary T. Shell of Bollinger County. The ceremony was performed by Miles Francis. It was her first marriage. ...

The fourth veteran, remembered this year was William W. Wlillams, Co. C, 2nd Mo. Vol., born March 31, 1838, died June 1893.

The story of how and why these veterans were remembered is a modern day odyssey of the author's search for his ancestors, involving three trips of over 800 miles each, the searching of courthouse records in four counties, close scrutiny of county maps, to locate cemeteries, the searching in five different cemeteries. After having, quite by chance, located a grandson of Enoch's, Pastor Odis Virgin, Assembly of God Church, Lebanon, Mo., the author found out there was an old burial ground just over a half mile east of the old home place where a Mr. Anderson Virgin was buried.

On the 22–28 of March 1975, another trip was made to Bollinger County. After taping an oral interview with his step aunt, Mrs. Josie Perkins of Marble Hill, checking the tombstones in Clubb Creek Union Hill, and, for the second time, the Spears Cemeteries, he started making inquiries at private homes. At the second house at which he stopped, he met Mrs. Lottie DuLaney who knew of the of the burial ground and directed him to Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Dennis. After a short visit they walked out onto their front porch, pointed over across the field in a westerly direction and said there it is. After driving in that direction as close to the area as he could and parking in front of a vacant farm house, he got out and started walking about 600 feet out in the cultivated field, and beginning to feel like he was lost, he stopped and started trying to recall the directions given him by Mr. and Mrs. Dennis, and to look the area over. Then it dawned on him that here about 100 feet in front of him, was not the end of the cultivated field and the start of the timber, but the old burial ground grown up with brush with the cultivated field going
around it.

This early in the season the brush had not leafed out or he would not have been able to have penetrated the heavy growth. As it was, it took him three hours of slow tedious effort to crawl, push, and work his way over, under, around and through the brush, while using his pocket knife to cut loose grapevines and saw briers which have a way of wrapping around a person's legs, arms, and other parts of the body.

During this time he found and copied most of the inscriptions from the 17 inscribed tombstones, and noted there were about twice as many graves, or more, which were clearly marked with field stones, without inscriptions. He stepped off the size of the burial ground as belong 150 feet by 100 feet.

For the first time in his searching he had found some tombstones of the Virgin surname, Anderson's and James' Virgin, were of the military type, giving the name and unit in which they served, without any dates. Enoch Virgin's stone had dates and the fact that he had been a member of G.A.R. Post No. 184, Zalma.

After running some more courthouse records at Marblehill, the author returned to his home in northeastern Illinois and started writing letters to the National Archives, Washington, D.C., the results of which proved that there his great grandfather was buried, with two of his brothers, and provided most of the material on which
this article is based.

Upon reading the account of the wounding of his great-grandfather and his living for 15 years with his wound, before it killed him, he just couldn't stop there. After three months' planning the trip, he, his middle son, Richard A. Virgin, and a good friend, Oliver Miller of Kankakee, Illinois, loaded up a borrowed horse trailer with a brush hog, a self–propelled weed cutter which has bicycle wheels and a large circular saw blade In lieu of a grass cutting blade, together with all the other necessary tools, including a shot gun for poisonous snakes, and returned to the old burial ground.

Starting on May 25, and finishing on Memorial Day, the 26, these three men cut off most of the brush and piled it into large brush piles, by first cutting their way in with machetes, cutting out a place to put their gas cans, water jugs, tools, etc., selecting a spot where there were no graves, and cutting out an area on which to start their first brush pile. On Memorial Day, when they were ready to start on their second day of this project, two of Enoch Virgin's granddaughters, Rev Blanche Virgin and Mrs. Lyman Perkins and her husband, were there from Dexter, for their first meeting with this writer, and were very appreciative of what was being done. They had tried a few years back to hire someone to clear the cemetery and had been unsuccessful. That afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Dennis, who had heard the brush hog's motor going until dark the night
before, together with another couple, were there to visit and witness what was being done, during which time they pointed out and identified one of the graves, marked only with a field stone, as being the grave of "Uncle" James Gaither. Then on the 13th of July the old burial ground, which lies about two miles notheast of Zalma, was revisited by the original crew and with Mrs. Oilver Miller's wife and daughter. At this time the brush piles were burned and the brush on the outside of the old fence was sprayed with poison.

It is hoped that next year a visit can be made to this burial ground for the purpose of making a survey and plat of the grave yard, to show the respective positions of all of the graves therein, to whitewash the field stones, and to try to start toward upgrading it into a real place of remembrance.

It is recognized by this writer that it will be impossible for him to make an 800 mile trip each week or so to cut the grass and to give it the proper care it will eventually require, but it is being approached on a first–things–first basis.

-The Banner–Press, Dec. 25, 1975.

http://www.poe.ourfamily.com/borders.html

John R