This bio is from "Virgin Family and Civil War" by Edward D. Virgin, 395 N. Blaine Ave., Bradley, Illinois 60915.
"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 (according to Jim Lynn, Andrew was her brother. Her father was John May, Sr.) 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.
There was Sophia A. Virgin, who married David G. Borders. Frena Caroline, also known as "Lina" Virgin or "Aunt Lina" (Bicentennial Series, Banner Press, Feb. 27, 1975), who married John Able, a veteran of the War of 1812. She is buried close to her father, in the same burial ground.
Then there was James H. Virgin who married Mary A. Skaggs, the widow of Pete Mooney of Advance. Because two of her daughters married brothers of her husband, which made them her sisters-in-law, she was very conscious of her age and never would reveal it to friends or acquaintances. However, she must have trusted the federal census enumerator, because in the 1900 census, Pike Township, Stoddard County, her age is revealed as being twelve years older than her husband.
Next there was Amanda or "Mandy" Jane Virgin who married James Henry Borders, brother of David G. Borders. David Virgin, fifth child of Anderson and Mary (May) Virgin, was born about 1848 and little is known of him. Cenith or "Sena" Virgin married John Miles and he must have died before January 30, 1872 because he did not join with here in a deed of sale of land in which she had an interest on that date. Her sister, Mary E. Virgin, was born about 1851 and this was such a common name in that family little is know about her.
William Anderson Virgin (grandfather of the author of this article) married Neana Jane Mooney, widow of a Mr. Evarett, who after William's death in the spring of 1900, later married Thompson or "Thomp" M. Myers of Advance. She and her last husband are buried there in the Morgan Memorial Park, with two of her sons by William Virgin.
Next there was Peter G. Virgin, who married Mary or "Molly" Mooney, daughter of Pete and Mary A. (Skaggs) Mooney, and raised a family of four boys and five girls. Riney Angelina Virgin was born December 29, 1859. George Washington Virgin, who was their eleventh and only child to have been born after Anderson Virgin had served his country, was born April 1, 1864, in Union County, Illinois, died January 27, 1885 of cerebro-spinal fever in Stoddard County and was buried in Bollinger County.
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 Battalion, 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 Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry, which was later known as Company 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 Company 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 weeks 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 to months. He as 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 would 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 earth works 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 as 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; Erich 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. 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.
David G. Borders did not go to Illinois when Virgin did. He married their oldest daughter, Sophia A. Virgin, on December 28, of that year, in Bollinger County. After he got out of service in 1865, he and his wife went there and lived in part of a double house with him. In the spring of 1866, the war being over, Anderson Virgin came back to Bollinger County and, under the Homestead Acts of May 20, 1862 and June 21, 1866, homesteaded 160 acres of land about three miles east of Zalma, in Sections 26 (120 acres) and 27 (40 acres). He proved-up on this homestead in January 1872, by "having entered upon and made settlement, ploughed, fenced, and cultivated about 35 acres of said land and made other improvements consisting of a log house, smoke house, stable, fencing, etc." He was issued final certificate No. 118 and the patent was sent to J.J. Duffy, Marble Hill, March 13, 1873.
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, he would periodically have risings on his throat which 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 to 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 to 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 arrearage under the Act of June 7, 1888 increasing the widows 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'."
"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 (according to Jim Lynn, Andrew was her brother. Her father was John May, Sr.) 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.
There was Sophia A. Virgin, who married David G. Borders. Frena Caroline, also known as "Lina" Virgin or "Aunt Lina" (Bicentennial Series, Banner Press, Feb. 27, 1975), who married John Able, a veteran of the War of 1812. She is buried close to her father, in the same burial ground.
Then there was James H. Virgin who married Mary A. Skaggs, the widow of Pete Mooney of Advance. Because two of her daughters married brothers of her husband, which made them her sisters-in-law, she was very conscious of her age and never would reveal it to friends or acquaintances. However, she must have trusted the federal census enumerator, because in the 1900 census, Pike Township, Stoddard County, her age is revealed as being twelve years older than her husband.
Next there was Amanda or "Mandy" Jane Virgin who married James Henry Borders, brother of David G. Borders. David Virgin, fifth child of Anderson and Mary (May) Virgin, was born about 1848 and little is known of him. Cenith or "Sena" Virgin married John Miles and he must have died before January 30, 1872 because he did not join with here in a deed of sale of land in which she had an interest on that date. Her sister, Mary E. Virgin, was born about 1851 and this was such a common name in that family little is know about her.
William Anderson Virgin (grandfather of the author of this article) married Neana Jane Mooney, widow of a Mr. Evarett, who after William's death in the spring of 1900, later married Thompson or "Thomp" M. Myers of Advance. She and her last husband are buried there in the Morgan Memorial Park, with two of her sons by William Virgin.
Next there was Peter G. Virgin, who married Mary or "Molly" Mooney, daughter of Pete and Mary A. (Skaggs) Mooney, and raised a family of four boys and five girls. Riney Angelina Virgin was born December 29, 1859. George Washington Virgin, who was their eleventh and only child to have been born after Anderson Virgin had served his country, was born April 1, 1864, in Union County, Illinois, died January 27, 1885 of cerebro-spinal fever in Stoddard County and was buried in Bollinger County.
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 Battalion, 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 Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry, which was later known as Company 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 Company 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 weeks 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 to months. He as 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 would 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 earth works 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 as 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; Erich 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. 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.
David G. Borders did not go to Illinois when Virgin did. He married their oldest daughter, Sophia A. Virgin, on December 28, of that year, in Bollinger County. After he got out of service in 1865, he and his wife went there and lived in part of a double house with him. In the spring of 1866, the war being over, Anderson Virgin came back to Bollinger County and, under the Homestead Acts of May 20, 1862 and June 21, 1866, homesteaded 160 acres of land about three miles east of Zalma, in Sections 26 (120 acres) and 27 (40 acres). He proved-up on this homestead in January 1872, by "having entered upon and made settlement, ploughed, fenced, and cultivated about 35 acres of said land and made other improvements consisting of a log house, smoke house, stable, fencing, etc." He was issued final certificate No. 118 and the patent was sent to J.J. Duffy, Marble Hill, March 13, 1873.
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, he would periodically have risings on his throat which 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 to 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 to 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 arrearage under the Act of June 7, 1888 increasing the widows 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'."
This bio is from "Virgin Family and Civil War" by Edward D. Virgin, 395 N. Blaine Ave., Bradley, Illinois 60915.
"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 (according to Jim Lynn, Andrew was her brother. Her father was John May, Sr.) 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.
There was Sophia A. Virgin, who married David G. Borders. Frena Caroline, also known as "Lina" Virgin or "Aunt Lina" (Bicentennial Series, Banner Press, Feb. 27, 1975), who married John Able, a veteran of the War of 1812. She is buried close to her father, in the same burial ground.
Then there was James H. Virgin who married Mary A. Skaggs, the widow of Pete Mooney of Advance. Because two of her daughters married brothers of her husband, which made them her sisters-in-law, she was very conscious of her age and never would reveal it to friends or acquaintances. However, she must have trusted the federal census enumerator, because in the 1900 census, Pike Township, Stoddard County, her age is revealed as being twelve years older than her husband.
Next there was Amanda or "Mandy" Jane Virgin who married James Henry Borders, brother of David G. Borders. David Virgin, fifth child of Anderson and Mary (May) Virgin, was born about 1848 and little is known of him. Cenith or "Sena" Virgin married John Miles and he must have died before January 30, 1872 because he did not join with here in a deed of sale of land in which she had an interest on that date. Her sister, Mary E. Virgin, was born about 1851 and this was such a common name in that family little is know about her.
William Anderson Virgin (grandfather of the author of this article) married Neana Jane Mooney, widow of a Mr. Evarett, who after William's death in the spring of 1900, later married Thompson or "Thomp" M. Myers of Advance. She and her last husband are buried there in the Morgan Memorial Park, with two of her sons by William Virgin.
Next there was Peter G. Virgin, who married Mary or "Molly" Mooney, daughter of Pete and Mary A. (Skaggs) Mooney, and raised a family of four boys and five girls. Riney Angelina Virgin was born December 29, 1859. George Washington Virgin, who was their eleventh and only child to have been born after Anderson Virgin had served his country, was born April 1, 1864, in Union County, Illinois, died January 27, 1885 of cerebro-spinal fever in Stoddard County and was buried in Bollinger County.
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 Battalion, 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 Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry, which was later known as Company 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 Company 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 weeks 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 to months. He as 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 would 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 earth works 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 as 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; Erich 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. 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.
David G. Borders did not go to Illinois when Virgin did. He married their oldest daughter, Sophia A. Virgin, on December 28, of that year, in Bollinger County. After he got out of service in 1865, he and his wife went there and lived in part of a double house with him. In the spring of 1866, the war being over, Anderson Virgin came back to Bollinger County and, under the Homestead Acts of May 20, 1862 and June 21, 1866, homesteaded 160 acres of land about three miles east of Zalma, in Sections 26 (120 acres) and 27 (40 acres). He proved-up on this homestead in January 1872, by "having entered upon and made settlement, ploughed, fenced, and cultivated about 35 acres of said land and made other improvements consisting of a log house, smoke house, stable, fencing, etc." He was issued final certificate No. 118 and the patent was sent to J.J. Duffy, Marble Hill, March 13, 1873.
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, he would periodically have risings on his throat which 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 to 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 to 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 arrearage under the Act of June 7, 1888 increasing the widows 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'."
"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 (according to Jim Lynn, Andrew was her brother. Her father was John May, Sr.) 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.
There was Sophia A. Virgin, who married David G. Borders. Frena Caroline, also known as "Lina" Virgin or "Aunt Lina" (Bicentennial Series, Banner Press, Feb. 27, 1975), who married John Able, a veteran of the War of 1812. She is buried close to her father, in the same burial ground.
Then there was James H. Virgin who married Mary A. Skaggs, the widow of Pete Mooney of Advance. Because two of her daughters married brothers of her husband, which made them her sisters-in-law, she was very conscious of her age and never would reveal it to friends or acquaintances. However, she must have trusted the federal census enumerator, because in the 1900 census, Pike Township, Stoddard County, her age is revealed as being twelve years older than her husband.
Next there was Amanda or "Mandy" Jane Virgin who married James Henry Borders, brother of David G. Borders. David Virgin, fifth child of Anderson and Mary (May) Virgin, was born about 1848 and little is known of him. Cenith or "Sena" Virgin married John Miles and he must have died before January 30, 1872 because he did not join with here in a deed of sale of land in which she had an interest on that date. Her sister, Mary E. Virgin, was born about 1851 and this was such a common name in that family little is know about her.
William Anderson Virgin (grandfather of the author of this article) married Neana Jane Mooney, widow of a Mr. Evarett, who after William's death in the spring of 1900, later married Thompson or "Thomp" M. Myers of Advance. She and her last husband are buried there in the Morgan Memorial Park, with two of her sons by William Virgin.
Next there was Peter G. Virgin, who married Mary or "Molly" Mooney, daughter of Pete and Mary A. (Skaggs) Mooney, and raised a family of four boys and five girls. Riney Angelina Virgin was born December 29, 1859. George Washington Virgin, who was their eleventh and only child to have been born after Anderson Virgin had served his country, was born April 1, 1864, in Union County, Illinois, died January 27, 1885 of cerebro-spinal fever in Stoddard County and was buried in Bollinger County.
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 Battalion, 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 Regiment, Missouri State Militia Cavalry, which was later known as Company 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 Company 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 weeks 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 to months. He as 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 would 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 earth works 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 as 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; Erich 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. 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.
David G. Borders did not go to Illinois when Virgin did. He married their oldest daughter, Sophia A. Virgin, on December 28, of that year, in Bollinger County. After he got out of service in 1865, he and his wife went there and lived in part of a double house with him. In the spring of 1866, the war being over, Anderson Virgin came back to Bollinger County and, under the Homestead Acts of May 20, 1862 and June 21, 1866, homesteaded 160 acres of land about three miles east of Zalma, in Sections 26 (120 acres) and 27 (40 acres). He proved-up on this homestead in January 1872, by "having entered upon and made settlement, ploughed, fenced, and cultivated about 35 acres of said land and made other improvements consisting of a log house, smoke house, stable, fencing, etc." He was issued final certificate No. 118 and the patent was sent to J.J. Duffy, Marble Hill, March 13, 1873.
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, he would periodically have risings on his throat which 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 to 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 to 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 arrearage under the Act of June 7, 1888 increasing the widows 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'."
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Co K 3rd Mo SM Cav
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