Virginia Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion

11/10/2025

Reminder of Commandery Meeting!

The Virginia Commandery is gathering this Saturday, November 15 for dinner and comaraderie at Patrick Henry Pub & Grille, 2302 E. Broad Street, in Richmond's historic Church Hill. We'll enjoy cocktails starting at six, followed by a brief meeting and dinner. Companions, spouses and guests are welcome. Parking is plentiful on surrounding streets.

Please RSVP to Jeffry Burden via message to this page.

10/06/2025

Companions from around the country gathered in Philadelphia this past weekend for the 140th Meeting of the Order and its Board of Officers. We welcome Paul Davis of Michigan as the new Commander-in-Chief.

Commander John S. Moore and Recorder Jeffry Burden were proud to represent the Virginia Commandery.

08/03/2025

NEW IN NORTH CAROLINA: A stone for the unmarked grave of an Original Companion of the Loyal Legion is now in place in Asheville. Warrington D. Roath served as an Acting Volunteer Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, including as commander of the gunboat Antona.

The Virginia Commandery, with the on-site help of Virginia Companion Robert Crum of North Carolina, arranged to receive the marker from the Department of Veterans Affairs and its grave marker program. Many thanks to Jonathan Neary of Riverside Cemetery, and his staff, for their assistance.

The Commandery-in-Chief has launched an initiative to encourage Companions and others to mark the similarly-unmarked resting places of Original Companions. See the upcoming issue of the Loyal Legion Historical Journal for more details.

08/03/2025

We have sad news to pass along: Virginia Honorary Companion Eric Wittenberg died today after a long battle with cancer. A lawyer by profession, he was also the well-known author and co-author of many works on the Civil War, often with a focus on cavalry operations.

Our condolences to his family and many friends.

07/23/2025

National Park Service Ranger, and Virginia Companion, Frank O'Reilly helps support battlefield preservation in a recent talk.

05/26/2025

Virginia Commandery members joined with the Brady Camp #63, SUVCW at Cold Harbor National Cemetery today for Memorial Day observances. Following the ceremony, the crowd of more than fifty laid flowers on all graves there.

04/25/2025

The Commandery is in the midst of making its annual awards to outstanding ROTC cadets, recognizing "Academic Achievement and Demonstrated Leadership Potential."

So far this year, Companions John S. Moore, Robert Crum and Jeffry Burden have presented the ROTC Medal of Merit to, respectively, Cadet Seth Greene at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga; Cadet Nicholas Bossier at East Tennessee State University; and Cadets Taylor Arrington (Hampden-Sydney College) and Johana Navarro (Virginia Commonwealth University), members of the multi-school battalion at the University of Richmond.

Awards at two additional ROTC battalions are upcoming.

04/06/2025

TODAY: More than thirty people, including many members of hereditary groups, helped clean up sites associated with the May 5, 1862 Battle of Williamsburg. This was one of the locations for this year's "Park Day", a nationwide volunteer effort organized by the American Battlefield Trust.

02/05/2025

Denman was a true Virginia gentleman and a tireless fighter for the preservation of historic ground in the Shenandoah Valley.

It’s with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of Denman Zirkle. Denman was the Battlefields Foundation’s second Executive Director serving from 2009 to 2014 and had just retired from the Board of Trustees on January 1st. Denman will truly be missed but the Valley’s battlefields will forever reflect his vision and leadership.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nvdaily/name/william-zirkle-obituary?id=57456941

02/04/2025

A Virginia native, and posthumous Companion of the Load Legion:

“I have come nearly a thousand miles at great expense and sacrifice, hoping to be of some use to the country and to my race at this eventful period.”

Alexander Thomas Augusta was rejected from medical school in the United States because of the color of his skin. Refusing to give up, he moved to Canada and earned his degree in medicine from Trinity College of the University of Toronto.

With the Emancipation Proclamation and creation of the United States Colored Troops, Augusta offered his services to the U.S. Army.

Once again, he faced institutional racism. The Medical Department Board of Examination focused on his being "a person of African descent," but also tried to argue that he could not be admitted as a surgeon because "he is an alien & a British subject - his entrance into the US Military Service is an Evident violation of her Britannic Majesty's Proclamation of neutrality."

It took an appeal to the highest levels of government to finally admit Augusta as a surgeon. He would eventually become the highest ranking black officer of the Civil War and led a distinguished career

Photo Credit:
Alexander T. Augusta CDV, Oblate Sisters of Providence Archives via National Library of Medicine.

10/17/2024

MIDDLETOWN — About 45 undeveloped acres stretching south from where Frederick County meets Warren County near Interstate 81 are set to be added to a regional group’s collection of preserved