Campbell County resident Thomas Cock joined his hometown unit, the Red House Volunteers, at the beginning of the war. His Confederate service was as a member of Co. A, 21st Virginia Infantry. Service was hard under Jackson, Lee and Early, and he barely survived the destruction of the Stonewall Brigade at Spotsylvania in 1864. At some point he was given, perhaps through the efforts of army chaplains or General Jackson himself, this pocket testament which was printed in Atlanta in 1862. 

His luck ran out in July, 1864, at Monocacy Junction, Maryland. 

Unable to write well due to the nature of his wound, Ward Master H.S. Shepherd of West's Hospital, Baltmore, gently assisted Private Cock when he inscribed the following passages in the Testament:

Cover: "Thomas Cox / Morris Church / Carroll County, Va. / Co. A / 21 Va." (Morris Church was actually in eastern Campbell County, near its border with Charlotte County).
"The ball that struck this book entered my left breast and came out of right -- it saved instant death & will be the means of saving my soul. Thomas Cox. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."

"I was with Thos. Cox when he died...he was willing...& appear ready to leave this world for a better one to come. H.S. Shepherd, w.m. West's Hospital Baltimore."

Private Cock never left Maryland. He was buried in Loudoun Cemetery in Baltimore. His testament and a ring from his finger was carefully sent by Shepherd to Cock's widow in Southside Virginia.