The first name in the roll of his class (1840), and the first in honor, David Clopton, of Georgia, made his mark at College, and his after life was what his college life predicted.
He represented the Montgomery (Alabama) District in the United States
Congress prior to the war, and the same district in the Confederate
States Congress. Afterwards he served for many years as Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama. He was also very prominent in
the church.
James F. Dowdell, of Georgia, was a member of the United States Congress from Alabama prior to the war, and was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Tennent Lomax, of South Carolina, also moved to Alabama. He was editor, soldier in the Mexican war, and was prominent in politics. He was killed while leading his regiment into battle at Seven Pines, Virginia, May, 1862, just after having received a commission as brigadier-general.
James L. Pierce was an eloquent speaker, a Doctor of Divinity, and
President of Lagrange (Georgia) Female College.
In this connection it might be interesting to mention that Clopton's roommate was Robert Lanier, of Macon, Ga., a member of the Sophomore Class. He and Burwell Harrison, also of Georgia, married Virginia ladies, whose acquaintance they formed while they were at College. Lanier's son, Sidney, has been called the "poet laureate of the South."
Coming to the next class (1841), George B. Jones, first-honor man, was a fine scholar, but turned from teaching to business life. He was killed at Petersburg in 1864, while defending his city in Kautz's attack on it.
Thomas H. Campbell was a distinguished lawyer, served in both houses of the General Assembly of Virginia, and was president of the Southside Railroad Company.
Edward Wadsworth was a prominent minister in Virginia and Alabama, a
Doctor of Divinity, and President of the Southern University,
Greensboro, Ala.
In the class of 1842, Thomas C. Johnson, of Virginia, first-honor man,
became a prominent lawyer in St. Louis, Mo., and a member of the
Legislature of that State. After the war he served two years as
President of Randolph-Macon College (1866-'67, 1867-'68).