Verbena blossom carried through the Civil War.

William C. Holmes, a University of Virginia student and later captain of Company B, First Mississippi Battalion of Sharpshooters, was given this verbena blossom by Miss Alice Ray of Lexington, Mississippi. He kept it in his diary, wrapped in a piece of paper inscribed, "What is home without a Mother?" Fifty-three years later it was encased in the locket and given to his alma mater so that "the generations to come on viewing it will know that in that cruel age of war, there was a star, brighter than any in the galaxy-- 'woman's tenderness.'"

Holmes lost the use of his right arm in the war and returned to the University where he became partners with George L. Christian of Richmond, who had lost one foot and half of another. Holmes helped Christian walk to classes and Christian helped Holmes with note taking. Holmes later became a physician in Texas; Christian a judge in Virginia.