When War broke out in 1861,  Benjamin R. Markham  enlisted in the “MOUNTAIN RIFLES”, a militia unit led by Colonel Joseph Washington Anderson of Buchanan, Va., Located in Botetourt County, serving first in  Company H, 28th Va. Infantry at the "First Battle of Manassas" and later in the  "THE BOTETOURT ARTILLERY".  In the words of the authoress Mary Johnston, the Botetourt Artillery "fought all over." These three words briefly describe their four years of service to the Confederacy.  In early 1862 they transferred to the artillery branch and were assigned to Kirby Smith's small army in Eastern Tennessee. Later that same year they participated in the invasion of Kentucky. In December of 1862 they received orders to move south to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  Benjamin Richard Markham fought in  many Bloody Battles, among them being the "Siege of Vicksburg", where he was taken prisoner and then paroled, and returned home to re-enlist and finish  the War, in the "Battle of Lynchburg".   When  the  War was  over in 1865,  he  mustered  out  at   New River Gorge, near Christiansburg, Va., and  returned  home to Botetourt County.

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