Richard Eppes

Richard Eppes (May 2, 1824 – February 17, 1896) was a prominent planter in Prince George County, Virginia and a surgeon in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Eppes was born in City Point, Virginia on the estate his father Benjamin Cocke managed for his mother.

Eppes went to Petersburg Classical Institute 1840–1843, enrolled at William & Mary in 1843, but transferred to the University of Pennsylvania where he took his medical degree in 1847.

[1] In 1850 had married Josephine Dulles Horner, the daughter of the dean of the medical school at Pennsylvania, who died of complications during childbirth less than two years after their marriage.

Early in May 1862, his wife and children moved to Petersburg, which was located inland above the falls of the James River, for safety.

When the troops departed, all but twelve of Eppes' slaves had escaped with them, choosing to join the Union forces to gain freedom.

When Petersburg fell, Eppes decided to stay behind with the wounded as Robert E. Lee evacuated the Confederate forces from the city.

Eppes kept voluminous, detailed journals, which have been a source for historians on his planning and operation of his plantation, as well as the war and post-bellum years.