| William S. Parsons, Jr., a 31-year-old private
in Company A of the 94th Regiment of Virginia Militia and native
of Lee County, Virginia, enlisted as a private in Company B of the
21st Battalion Virginia Infantry at Camp Lane in Lee County on September
16, 1861. Also known as the Pound Gap or Special Service Battalion,
the 21st was organized that fall with six companies and served in
the Department of Western Virginia until Special Orders #275, A&IGO,
dated November 24, 1862, consolidated the 21st Battalion with the
29th Battalion of Infantry to form the 64th Virginia Infantry Regiment,
later known as the 64th Mounted Infantry and also as the 64th Cavalry.
Most of the regiment’s service was in east Tennessee, western
Virginia, and North Carolina. In April 1865, when the regiment surrendered
with the remnants of J. E. Johnston’s army in North Carolina,
there were less than 50 members in the 64th Mounted Infantry left
to surrender. Private Parsons was not one of them.
|
|
Throughout much of the spring and summer of
1863, Private Parsons appears on 64th Infantry rolls as a forage
master, assigned to extra duty by the regiment’s commanding
officer, COL Campbell Slemp. Private Parsons rejoined the regiment
in time to participate in the action at Cumberland Gap on September
9, 1863, in which the federals recaptured that important position
and also most of the 64th Infantry. Private Parsons was one of those
captured. He was sent to Camp Douglas, Illinois, near Chicago, where
he remained a prisoner of war until he died on March 13, 1864, of
inflammation of the lungs. He is buried in grave #1054 in the Chicago
City Cemetery.
The memory of Private William S. Parsons, Jr.
of Company G, 64th Virginia Mounted Infantry is perpetuated in this
camp by his direct descendant, Compatriot Dave Parsons.
|
