Ms. Judy Burnett,

It is possible that Rappahannock Academy...was not open when the young man would have attended. Much of the academy was burned and vandalized when both armies camped there. Nov. 1862-April 1963, Gen. "Stonwall" Jackson's 2nd Corps, went into winter quarters from Guineys' Station near the county line, through Moss Neck and all the way to Port Royal. This included Rappahannock Academy. In the spring of 1864 Yankees camped there when they tuned Port Royal into a supply depot with a pontoon bridge across the Rappahannock River. In Ralph Emmett Fall's history of Port Royal, Hidden Village, he says that the Academy suffered burning and extensive damage done by both armies. Capt. Thornton had been the Principal at the academy when the Caroline Light Artillery was formed. Your ancestor, Pvt. Benjamin Burton, is listed on the roster of the Caroline...Artillery in the book, "Caroline, Parker, and Stafford Light Virginia Artillery," by Homer D Musselman, [part of the Virginia Regimental Histories Series]. My Great Grand Uncle, Pvt. John T. Massey transferred in to the Caroline Light Artillery when his mount was shot from under him and he was not able to replace it. He had been in Co. B, 9th VA Cavalry. Co. "B" was a pre-war militia called the "Caroline Light Dragoons", founded in 1859. Many Academy student joined both the "Caroline...Dragoons" as well as "Thornton's Company", Caroline Light Artillery. John T. Massey and his half brothers attended the Academy which was one mile away from their home, Spring Garden plantation. Another ancestor, Dr. Robert Holloway (CSA Medical Dept. 1861-1865) alos attended Rappahannock Academy in preparation to attend The Univ. of Virginia and Univ. of Pennsylvania Medical School. He received his M.D. from Penn in 1854. I have more information on both the Caroline...Artillery and Rappahannock Academy. (contact me by e-mail rmassey6165@yahoo.com)

Dr. Robert Massey
Phoenix, Arizona