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Confederate (CSV)

Captain

Charles Fox Urquhart

(1838 - 1862)

Home State: Virginia

Education: Virginia Military Institute, Class of 1860;Class Rank: 14th

Command Billet: Company Commander

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 3rd Virginia Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

Charles attended Chuckatuck Military Academy in Nansemond County, Virginia before entering the Third Class of Virginia Military Institute on August 13, 1857. On July 4, 1860 he graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering. His plans were to go to South America and work on the railroads but put his career on hold awaiting the out come of the sectional crisis.

When Virginia seceded he enlisted on May 31, 1861 in the Southampton Greys which became Co. D, 3rd Virginia Infantry. He was elected 1st Lieutenant of the company and when the army was reorganized in early 1862 he was elected Captain on April 27th. He led the company through the Peninsular Campaign, and was in command of the regiment during the Battle of Second Manassas where the 3rd captured two guns of McGilvery's Maine Battery.

On the Campaign

General Roger Pryor's Brigade which included the 3rd Virginia was placed in reserve in the Piper Farm Lane. When Colonel Joseph Mayo was wounded the command of the 3rd Va. was turned over to Captain Urquhart. When the Sunken Road was threatened, Pryor's Brigade was moved forward through the Piper Orchard towards the Sunken Road. Urquhart was out in front of the regiment leading it forward with the Third's Colors in his hand when he was stuck down. As the Confederates were driven from the Sunken Road to a new position Urquhart's body was left upon the field. Charles Urquhart's promotion to the rank of Major is dated September 17, 1862.

After the War

In 1890 the Urquhart-Gillette Camp #1611, United Confederate Veterans, was formed in Southampton County, Virginia. The old soldiers named the camp after the highest two ranking men from Southampton who died during the war: Major Charles Fox Urquhart and Major Joseph Ezra Gillette of the 13th Virginia Cavalry. The citizens of Southampton County used the 40th anniversary of Major Urquhart's death September 17, 1902 to dedicate a monument to their Confederate dead in front of the Southampton Courthouse in present day Courtland, Virginia.

On September 17, 1995 the Urquhart-Gillette Camp Sons of Confederate Veterans held a memorial service for Major Urquhart in the Piper Orchard, Antietam National Battlefield Park.

References & notes

This bio sketch by Warren A. Simmons, Southampton County, Virginia (2/2006).
Service information from Walker,1 the Archives,2 and Wallace;3 additional details from VMI4 and the UCV.5

Birth

05/12/1838; Oak Grove Plantation, Southampton County, VA

Death

09/17/1862; Sharpsburg, MD

Notes

1   Walker, Charles D., Biographical Sketches of the Graduates and Eleves of the Virginia Military Institute Who Fell During the War Between the States, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Company, 1875, C.F. Urquhart  [AotW citation 405]

2   US War Department, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, Record Group No. 109 (War Department Collection of Confederate Records), Washington DC: US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 1903-1927, 3rd Regiment of Infantry, C.F. Urquhart  [AotW citation 406]

3   Wallace, Lee A., 3rd Virginia Infantry, Lynchburg (Va): H. E. Howard. Inc., 1986, pp. 31, 141  [AotW citation 407]

4   Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Military Institute Alumni Records, Lexington: VMI, 1839-, C.F. Urquhart, 1860  [AotW citation 408]

5   From correspondence and the Adjutant's ledger book of UCV Camp #1611.
United Confederate Veterans, Records of Urquhart-Gillette Camp #1611, UCV, Franklin (Va): UCV, c. 1890  [AotW citation 409]