Autograph document signed by Virgil A.S. Parks, Co. D, 17th Georgia Infantry. [Georgia?], 13 December 1862. 1 page, 7 1/2 x 11 3/8 in. Apparently excised from a Decatur County ledger book with partial entries related to the Last Will and Testament of Sarah McGriff dated April 1863. 

A rare, hand-written document recording Virgil A. S. Parks's last wishes. Penned during the war, he patriotically writes: "Before the close of this War of Independence and Southern Rights by permitting the enemy to slay me upon the field of battle or allowing the fell diseases of the camp or hospital to end my life, I therefore...do hereby appoint John M. Potter of Bainbridge, Ga., my lawful Executor.

Parks was raised by relatives in Georgia after both of his parents died young. A bright lad, he befriended Judge Linton Stephens, who aided him in his schooling. After a tumultuous childhood, he graduated from Franklin College (now the University of Georgia) in 1861 with a law degree and the same year moved to Bainbridge, Georgia, to practice law with William O. Fleming. He met John M. Potter at this time, who described him as a "high minded, modest, honorable and, and a consistent Christian."

But his practice was short-lived, as he enlisted as the 1st Lieutenant of Company D of the 17th Georgia Infantry on August 13th of the same year. The regiment joined Lee's army, and Parks used his gift for writing to submit articles to the Savannah Republican newspaper, providing eyewitness reporting from the front. 

The 17th Georgia saw heavy action throughout the Eastern Theater, including Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run (Manassas), where they suffered 102 casualties, and Antietam (Sharpsburg). He penned this declaration of his last wishes at the end of 1862, shortly before he was promoted to Captain on 20 January 1863.

His final journalistic contribution was written from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania on 28 June 1863 where he described the soldiers being compelled to wade the Potomac without being allowed to strip, but receiving a ration of whiskey upon reaching the Maryland side.

At the Battle of Gettysburg, the regiment "took prominent part in the severe conflict which resulted in the capture of Devil's Den together with a number of prisoners and three guns of the 4th New York Battery." It was on this day that Parks was killed in action. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]