Alfred Mallory Edgar

In 1860 he was a 23 year old worker on his father Archer's large farm and flour mill near Lewisburg in Greenbrier County, VA. He enlisted in Lewisburg on 9 May 1861 as 4th Corporal of the Greenbrier Rifles, soon to be Company E, 27th Virginia Infantry. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant on 23 March 1862.

On about 6 September 1862 while on the march in Maryland he later remembered

We have the most stringent orders against straggling or depredations on private property, but as I am almost without shoes, I ask permission of Col. Grisby [Grigsby] to be allowed to go ahead of the army and do some shopping, but he says it will be directly against orders for him to give me permission and that he is obligated to refuse. Now I cannot march barefooted when there are shoe stores in reach, so I must “maneuver” some. I have a friend, Lieutenant Yarrell [Yarnall] of Wheeling, who is in need of some clothing, too, and he agrees to go with me. So by fast walking and flanking we get in advance of the command and reach Frederick City in time to do some shopping ...

He was furloughed home for 25 days on 16 February 1863. He was promoted to First Lieutenant by June 1863 and to Captain on 28 September 1863. He was wounded in the left shoulder and captured at Spotsylvania Court House, VA on 12 May 1864 and held at Fort Delaware until September, when he was sent to Morris Island in Charleston Harbor, SC "for retaliation" - one of the "Immortal 600" officers. On 20 October he was transferred to Pulaski, GA then on to Hilton Head, SC in November. He was at Hilton Head to 12 March 1865, then returned to Fort Delaware, where he was released on 16 June 1865 after taking an oath of allegiance.

By 1880 he was farming his own place in Pocahontas County, WV.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860 and 1880. His gravesite is on Findagrave. Thanks to great-grandson John McNeel for the pointer to the Captain.

He married Lydia Ann McNeel (1849-1919) in June 1875 and they had 5 children.

He wrote his memoirs, published in 2011 as My Reminiscences of the Civil War, edited by Allan N Clower. The quote above - transcription by Sarah K Bierle - and his photograph (Mr Clower's collection) are from that volume.

07/10/1837; Greenbrier County, VA

10/08/1913; Pocahontas County, WV; burial in McNeel Cemetery, Hillsboro, WV