Following the Battle of the Crater, several soldier's obituaries appeared in the issues of the Petersburg Daily Express. The one above eulogizing Pvt. Robert Fuqua of Company K, 12th Virginia Infantry appeared in the August 8, 1864 edition.
The bonds that these soldiers formed though the difficulties that they endured in camp, on the march, and on the battlefield proved extremely strong. That, combined with the fact that many of the men fighting in the counterattacking units under Brig. Gen. William Mahone came from the Petersburg area, makes sense that their comrades would want their friend's deaths announced and to express it with sentiments similar to those above.
Robert Fuqua appears in the 1860 census living in Petersburg's West Ward in his mother's household. The 34 year old baker and his brother, James, a 26 year old finisher along with several boarders occupied the house. Although I was not able to find confirmation, I would guess that Pvt. Fuqua is buried in Peterssburg's Blandford Cemetery.
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