Augusta College and Its Civil War Connection
At times, when researching various Civil War topics, I will come across a mention of a soldier, usually an officer, who attended Augusta College. If I had been intelligent, I would have kept track of these mentions, but alas, I did not. While I am working to obtain a full list of Augusta College attendees in an effort to document all those with a Civil War story, here are a few Augusta College alumni with Civil War military ties.
Charles Clark - (born May 24, 1811) - Hailing from Cincinnati, at a young age the Clark family moved to Mississippi. Clark owned a 5,000 acre plantation in Bolivar County. He would serve in the Mississippi House of Representatives and during the Mexican War would serve as colonel of the Second Mississippi Regiment of Volunteers. During the Civil War Clark would lead a brigade, and then rise to division command at Shiloh, where he was wounded. He would later lead troops at the Battle of Baton Rouge where he was wounded again and captured. Clark would be promoted to major general in the Mississippi State Troops in 1863. Later that year he would become the state’s twenty-fourth governor, but would be removed when Union occupation forces controlled the state. Clark would die in Bolivar County, Mississippi on December 18, 1877.
Thomas Marshall Key - (born August 8, 1819) - Key, a native of Mason County, Kentucky, graduated from Augusta College before attending and graduated from Yale College, studying law. He would move to Cincinnati and become a partner with Alphonso Taft and William M. Dickson. He would serve as judge of the Commercial Court, and then serve as an Ohio state senator. When the Civil War opened, Key came into contact with George B. McClellan, and would go on to serve as McClellan’s judge advocate, rising to the rank of colonel in August, 1861. Key would draft a bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. When McClellan was removed from command of the Army of the Potomac, Key returned to his law profession in Cincinnati. During his military service Key contracted pulmonary disease due to exposure, and this plagued his health until his death in Lebanon, Ohio on January 15, 1869. He is buried in Spring Grove in Cincinnati.
Edward White Robertson - (born June 13, 1823) - A Tennessee native, Robertson attended Centenary College in Louisiana and Nashville University as well as Augusta College. He would join the Confederate Army in March 1862 as captain of Company D in the Twenty-Seventh Louisiana Infantry. He would resign his commission and return to his law practice in Baton Rouge. Robertson would later serve a total of four terms in the United House of Representatives. He would die in Baton Rouge on August 2, 1887.
William Henry Wadsworth - (born July 4, 1821) - Wadsworth was born in nearby Maysville, and would study law, opening a practice in his hometown. He would serve in the Kentucky State Senate and in the United State House of Representatives during the Civil War. While holding his seat in Congress, Wadsworth would serve as an aide to William Nelson during the Eastern Kentucky Campaign of 1861, with Wadsworth holding the rank of colonel. After the war he would be a commissioner to Mexico, serve an additional term in Congress. He would return to law, dying on April 2, 1893 and is buried in the Maysville Cemetery.
Moses Bascom Walker - (born July 16, 1819) - From Fairfield County in Ohio, after his time at Augusta College Walker would go ion to Yale College and Cincinnati Law School. He would also serve as an Ohio state senator prior to the war. Walker was appointed as captain in the Twelfth United States Infantry in August, 1861, before being made colonel of the Thirty-First Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment the following month. Walker would be wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga in September, 1863 while leading a brigade. He would receive the rank of brevet brigadier general of volunteers due to his service during the war. Walker would spend some time in Texas, serving in the capacity of an associate justice n he Texas Supreme Court. He would return to Ohio, dying in Kenton on December 17, 1895.