Old St. John Lutheran ChurchEst. 1799 · Wytheville, Virginia

The Civil War, 1861–1865

Wytheville sat at the intersection of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, near the salt works at Saltville and the lead mines at Austinville — industrial sites the Confederate war effort depended on. The town was contested, raided, and garrisoned throughout the four years of war. Old St. John Lutheran Church, in the middle of that geography, lost members of its congregation to the war and received into its cemetery soldiers from both armies.

This page records those deaths. It does not frame Confederate enlistment approvingly. The Confederacy was an armed secessionist movement whose founding documents named the preservation of slavery as its central purpose. Virginia seceded in April 1861. Some men of this congregation enlisted in Confederate units and died during the war; other men of this congregation took no part and died of civilian causes; Federal soldiers were killed at Wytheville in 1863 and buried in the churchyard. What follows is the record, with research gaps named where they exist.

Soldiers Buried at Old St. John’s — Confederate

One man buried in the cemetery is explicitly identified by rank in surviving records.

Lt. Joseph R. Brown (1840–1864) — plot J-26. Died age 24. Cause of death and unit are not recorded in cemetery archives; the rank indicates Confederate military service. Further documentation on Brown has not been added to these records.

Soldiers Buried at Old St. John’s — Federal

On July 18, 1863, a Union raiding force under Col. John T. Toland reached Wytheville on a mission to disrupt the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Toland’s command — the 34th Ohio Volunteer Mounted Infantry and attached units, about 872 men — exchanged fire with Confederate defenders and local home guards in the streets of the town. Toland was killed in the action. Between seven and fourteen Federal soldiers who died in the fighting were buried in St. John’s cemetery; contemporary accounts disagree on the exact number. Their names are largely unrecorded in church registers.

A Civil War Trails interpretive panel at the cemetery entrance describes the battle. It is the historical record most visitors encounter on site.

Civil War Trails interpretive panel titled BATTLE OF WYTHEVILLE describing the July 18, 1863 Union raid led by Col. John T. Toland and the Federal dead buried at St. John's Lutheran Cemetery
Civil War Trails interpretive panel at the cemetery entrance. The panel records the July 1863 Battle of Wytheville.

Possible Additional Service — Unconfirmed

Six men of this congregation of military age died during the war years. No cause of death is recorded in the cemetery archives, and none are identified with a military unit. Some or all may have been civilian deaths — disease was widespread in wartime Virginia, and records from this period are incomplete. Listed here as a starting point for future research, not as confirmed war dead.

  • William P. Blackwell (1840–1861) — plot J-74
  • Martin Leedy (1840–1861) — plot K-36
  • Hiram Andrew Sharitz (1840–1861) — plot K-10
  • David McAnally Sharitz (1834–1862) — plot K-11
  • Emory A. Neff (1842–1863) — plot J-47
  • John J. Kegley (1845–1864) — plot H-126

Civilian Death During the War Years

Fifty-six plots in this cemetery carry death dates between 1861 and 1865. Most are infants, children, women, and older adults — civilian deaths from disease, childbirth, farm accidents, or age. Wartime Virginia had strained medical care, disrupted supply lines, and elevated rates of epidemic disease. The toll of the war was not only on battlefields.

What Isn’t Here

Records of war-era deaths at Old St. John’s are sparse. Unit affiliations, battle dates, places of capture, and deaths outside the cemetery are not documented in surviving church records. Men who enlisted in the 4th, 45th, or 51st Virginia Infantry — the Wythe County–area Confederate regiments — and died in the field, in prison camps, or on the march may have family here but are not identified in these plot records.

If you are researching a family member and have sourced documentation of their service or cause of death, contact the church to contribute it to the record.

Sources

  • Sally Kegley, cemetery research (ongoing).
  • Civil War Trails interpretive panel, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Wytheville.
  • Regimental rosters: 4th Virginia Infantry, 45th Virginia Infantry, 51st Virginia Infantry.
  • National Park Service — Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database.

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