Born at Vineyard to Samuel Woodson Venable and Jane Reid Venable. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney in 1852 and travelled west. Venable settled in St. Louis, and became a successful businessman. There he met an army officer named Jeb Stuart and the two became good friends. He also met Ariadne Hackney Stevens, niece of the governor of Maryland and his future wife. When the Civil War began, Venable returned to Virginia and joined the Richmond Howitzers, serving in much action. In the summer of 1862, he was appointed captain and assistant commissary of subsistence for the 1st Regiment, Virginia Artillery. After the battle of Chancellorsville, Venable was promoted to major and transferred to Stuart's staff as assistant adjutant and inspector-general of the cavalry corps. He served on Stuart's staff until the latter's mortal wound. He lifted Stuart to the ambulance. Later, as Stuart was dying he gave Venable his gray horse. Venable then served on the staff of General Wade Hampton who succeeded Stuart commanding the cavalry corps. Venable was captured at the battle of Hatcher's Run 27 October 1864. Being transferred from Old Capitol prison in Washington D.C. to Fort Delaware, Venable made his escape by jumping from a train near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Southern sympathizers in Philadelphia hid him. Ariadne Stevens met him in Philadelphia, and the two were married. Venable returned south and served until the end of the war. A capital officer, warmhearted and brave. After the war, he returned to Prince Edward County and farmed. He and his wife had six children. Venable died at Millwood.

" I was born with a spirit hard to control, and the struggle of my life has been to conquer it." - Maj. A. R. Venable