VMI cadet, wounded in Battle of New Market, honored at Blandford Cemetery

Virginia Military Institute grads and supporters gather for a dedication ceremony for a grave marker of Pvt. Alva Hartsfield Thursday, Nov. 11 in Petersburg. Hartsfield was wounded at the Battle of New Market and died in Petersburg, trying to walk home to North Carolina. Patrick Kane/Progress-Index Photos
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• By Patrick Kane
  Staff Writer 
  Posted Nov. 18, 2014 @ 2:01 am
  Updated Nov 18, 2014 at 7:42 AM 
  
  

  PETERSBURG — Among the fields of gravestones, a new one honors a long-time resident of Blandford Cemetery. Virginia Military Institute Pvt. Alva Hartsfield, who struggled home after being wounded in the Battle of New Market, died in Petersburg and is interred with fellow North Carolinians.

  "He is believed to have died from the effects of his wounds at the battle," said Samuel Mattocks, a 1974 VMI graduate who worked toward a gravestone for Hartsfield. "He is the last of the 10 cadets who died directly related to the battle."

  About a dozen folks gathered Tuesday, Nov. 11 for a brief ceremony at the new gravestone, located down the hill from the arch.

  "We are gathered here today to honor Alva and to commemorate his service and his sacrifice for VMI and the commonwealth of Virginia," Mattocks said in a memorial prayer.

  New Market was likely the only time an institution of higher learning took part, en masse, in a battle, Joseph Van Landingham told a crowd during a spring event marking the 150th anniversary of the battle. Union Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel dove into the Shenandoah Valley to attack railroads near Staunton. Confederate Maj. Gen. John Breckenridge knew he had to counter-attack, calling up the VMI corps to reinforce his numbers.

  Two-hundred and fifty-seven cadets marched to Staunton, a three- to four-day march, to take part in a "pitched battle" on May 15, 1864. Organized as a unit, they were held back initially but would take a central position within the battlefield. With the cadets in place, a final Confederate assault succeeded in pressing back the Union Army, which retreated across and burned a bridge.

  Records indicate that 10 cadets were killed or fatally wounded and another 57 were injured. The cadets ranged in age from 15 to 24 years old, but most were 17 to 21.

  "So eager were the cadets to charge the enemy, 100 or 150 yards off, that it was difficult for them to find time to load and shoot their old-fashioned muzzle loading muskets" according to Col. William Harper's "The VMI New Market Cadets."

  The ties between Blandford and VMI were little-known until local alumni began researching ideas to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the battle. The Tri-Cities chapter traced four other men buried at Blandford, although they survived the battle and settled down in Petersburg. They are : Roger A. Adams of A. Company, 1847-1872; Samuel W. Booth of C. Company, 1844-1925; William L. Venable of D. Company, 1847-1928; and John A. Crichton of C. Company, 1845-1888.

  Hartsfield is also honored with a marker under the statue Virginia Mourning Her Dead at VMI in Lexington, Mattocks said