1848 land record shows Virgil H. Moats purchased 46 Acres in Licking County for $410 from Nathan Barnes. He moved to Defiance Co where he married (1) Sarah McKinney and (2) Eliza Richardson.
In 1860 he is listed as V. H. Moats, the Sheriff of Defiance Co, with his (2nd)wife and 4 children.
(bio from FindaGrave memorial) -
Virgil Henry Moats was born May 5, 1827, in Licking County, Ohio, the son of William Virgil (1799-1881) and Mary S. (d. 1873) Moats. The eldest of six children, Moats' siblings included a brother, Homer, who died in the Civil War, and siblings Edwin Bruce, William Wallace, Lydia S. (later Mrs. Medkirk) and Harriet.
As a young man, Moats moved to Defiance Co., Ohio, where he married Sarah McKinney of Newark. They had two children, Franklin Wallace (b. 1850) and Rowena, who died in infancy. Sarah died on May 13, 1854, and in the following June (1855), Virgil married Eliza Richardson (b. February 6, 1833). The couple had four more children: William Henry (1856), Hattie (1858-61), Douglas (1860) and Charles Virgil (1861).
A farmer, Moats established a local reputation as a solid citizen, assuming various public responsibilities as a schoolteacher, Justice of the Peace, and county Sheriff. During the Mexican War, he enlisted in a cavalry company raised at Newark, Ohio, and whatever else this experience may have done, it provided him with a degree of authority when it came to military matters.
During the fall of 1861, Moats assisted in organizing a company of infantry at Camp Dennison, Ohio, accepting a commission as Captain of Company F, 48th Ohio Infantry, when the regiment was formally admitted into the service in December. The 48th Ohio were ordered into the field during the winter, and saw their first significant action at the Battle of Shiloh, where they formed part of the fourth brigade of the Fifth Division commanded by William T. Sherman. Moats led his company through two days of intense fire at Shiloh, his regiment sustaining over 100 casualties. Still under Sherman's command, the regiment took part in the pursuit of Confederate forces to Corinth, Miss., and thereafter took part in the Vicksburg Campaign, including the Battles at Chickasaw Bluffs and Port Gibson, and the independent expedition to Arkansas Post. In recognition of his service, Moats was promoted to Major of the regiment in April, 1863. In the following month, Moats was wounded during the second assault on the Confederate lines at Vicksburg, and died of his wounds on July 11 after being sent to hospital in Cincinatti.
[Obituary] Defiance Democrat - 18 July 1863
Major V. H. MOATS, 48th Ohio Regiment, late Sheriff of Defiance county, died at Cincinnati, on Saturday last, from wounds received at Vicksburg. His wounds, at first, was not considered dangerous, but want of proper treatment in season made it fatal. While at Cincinnati, he was in the house of his aunt, attended by his wife, father, mother and sister, and received all possible attention. He was in his 37th year. He leaves a wife and several small children, hosts of friends and no enemies. Major Moats served in a cavalry company recruited in Licking county in the Mexican War, and has been since 1849 a citizen of Defiance county, of which he was for four years the Sheriff. In 1861, he recruited a company in this section for the 48th Regiment and has been in active, hard, fatiguing service ever since. He was in the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, the occupation of Memphis, the attack on Vicksburg under General Sherman last summer, at the taking of Arkansas Post, and in all the recent operations against Vicksburg up to May 22d, when he was wounded. His funeral took place at Brunersburg on Wednesday last.