| Robert
Alexander O’Brien was born June 9, 1847, the son
of Francis Kirkpatrick O’Brien. Like his father,
young Robert was a farmer.
In October 1864, when Robert was a 17-year-old resident
of Gary’s Store in Buckingham County, he enlisted
in the Buckingham Reserves at High Bridge, in nearby
Prince Edward County. His unit was Company C of the
3rd, or Booker’s, Regiment, Virginia Reserves,
which had been organized in September, seven months
after the Confederate Congress authorized the creation
of reserve units in February 1864.
Robert was present with his company from his enlistment
until the following January, when he fell sick and was
sent to the general hospital in Farmville. He was furloughed
from the hospital for 30 days in late January and February
1865. According to a notebook kept by a sergeant in
Company C, Robert did not return to his unit after his
furlough expired but most likely remained at home. |
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After the
war, Robert returned to farming, growing mostly corn and
tobacco in the rich red soil of Appomattox County. He
married Mildred Kyle Conner on February 10, 1874. She
gave him 10 children. Most of them survived to create
families of their own. Robert lived to the ripe old age
of 80 and is buried in the O’Brien family cemetery
in Appomattox County.
The memory of Private Robert Alexander O’Brien
of Company C, 3rd Virginia Reserves is perpetuated in
this camp by his great-grandson, Compatriot Claude H.
Perkins.
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