Joseph White Latimer

He was at VMI, in the Class of 1863, and was one of the students chosen to serve as a drill instructor at the Camp of Instruction in Richmond after the war broke out. In July 1861 when the training camps disbanded he returned home. Just after his 18th birthday, on 13 September 1861, he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in Captain A. R. Courtney's Henrico Artillery. This was one of the batteries he had instructed and Courtney was his cousin. He was elected First Lieutenant on 30 April 1862 and promoted to Captain on 14 July when Courtney was promoted to Major and Battalion command.

He was in command of the Battery in Maryland.

Promoted to Major on 20 May 1863, he was mortally wounded in the left arm by an exploding shell at Gettysburg on 2 July 1863. His arm was amputated but he died of his wounds on 1 August in Harrisonburg, VA, about a month short of 20 years old.

His service from Nicholas & Servis' Powhatan, Salem and Courtney Henrico Artillery (1997) via the Historical Data Systems and his Compiled Service Records, online from fold3. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture here from a painted portrait of him - with missing arm - at the Preston Library, VMI, Lexington, VA.

08/27/1843; Oak Ridge, Prince William County, VA

8/1/1863; Harrisonburg, VA; burial in Woodbine Cemetery, Harrisonburg, VA