Richard Horseley Burks

(1826 - 1899)
Home State: Virginia
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Cavalry
Unit: 12th Virginia Cavalry

Before the Antietam Campaign:
From Natural Bridge, Virginia, he attended VMI for 2 years, 6 months with the Class of 1848, leaving 6 months before graduation for service in the Mexican War (1846-48). Prior to the Civil War he had traveled to California and the Sandwich (now Hawaiian) Islands, and was a farmer in Botetourt County. He enrolled in Company C of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry 17 May 1861 as First Lieutenant, and was at First Manassas in July. He was appointed Adjutant of the Regiment by November 1861. He was on sick leave for most of February 1862 and was not reelected in the reorganization in April. He was, however, elected Lieutenant Colonel of the 12th Virginia Cavalry on 20 June.

In the Antietam Campaign:
The 12th Virginia was in the same Brigade as the Second Cavalry in Maryland, and Burks was given command of his old unit on 6 September when Brigadier Robertson was transferred and the 2nd's Colonel Thomas Munford moved up to Brigade command.

The remainder of the War:
Burks stayed with the Second into October 1862. He resigned his commission in the 12th on 2 March 1863 and returned home. He later served as Colonel of the Botetourt Home Guards.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Military record from Driver 1 with additional details from the VMI Archives 2. Although Colonel Burks' was not known as Junior, his father was also named Richard Horseley, as was his first son.

Birth Date: 11/01/1826    Place of Birth: Botetourt County, VA
College: Virginia Military Institute    Graduating Year: 1848
Death Date: 11/24/1899    Death Place: Washington, DC    Burial Place: Spring Hill Cemetery, Lynchburg, VA

Notes

1 Driver, Robert J., 2nd Virginia Cavalry, Lynchburg: H. E. Howard Inc., 1995, pg. 201 [AotW citation 1145]

2 Virginia Military Institute, and Diane B. Jacob, Head, Archives & Records Management, Virginia Military Institute Archives, Published c.2000, first accessed 01 January 2003, <http://www.vmi.edu/archives/> [AotW citation 1146]

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