Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1199

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY.
1121

at Cold Harbor, but he was on several occasions hit by spent balls. After his parole he returned to Rockbridge county, where after teaching school a short time he was occupied in farming until 1885. At the latter date he was appointed treasurer and secretary of the Virginia military institute. Since then he has rendered valuable service to this famous institution, with which his widely known military service renders it peculiarly appropriate that he should be associated. Colonel Poague has also served in the legislature of the State from 1871 to 1873.

Henry Robinson Pollard, of Richmond, prominent in the legal profession and in the political affairs of Virginia, was born in King and Queen county, Va., November 28, 1845. From his native county he entered the service of the Confederate States in October, 1863, as assistant engineer in the corps of topographical engineers, with the rank of lieutenant. He served in this capacity during one year, assisting in the mapping of the south side of Virginia. Then desiring more active service he became a private in Company E of the Twenty-fourth Virginia cavalry regiment, and participated in the operations of this command subsequent to his enlistment in October, 1864, until the close of hostilities. His record in the field embraces the actions at Amelia Springs, Sailor's Creek, Farmville, and the engagement at Appomattox on the evening preceding the surrender. At Farmville he was slightly wounded. He participated in the surrender of April 9, 1865, and then returned to his home. Subsequently he taught a school in Middlesex county, for one session, and then entered the law school of Columbian college, Washington, D. C., where he was graduated in 1867. He embarked in professional life in his native county, and soon attained distinction in the practice of law and became prominent in public affairs. From 1874 to 1886 he held the office of commonwealth's attorney for King and Queen county, and from 1880 to 1889 represented the county in the legislature of Virginia, gaining prominence in that body and becoming widely and favorably known throughout the State. In 1886 he was the presiding officer of the State convention which put in nomination Gen. Fitzhugh Lee for governor. In the year 1889 he made his home at the State capital, where his career has justified the removal that gave him a wider field for activity. In the summer of 1898, without effort on his part, he was elected city attorney for the city of Richmond. He is a prominent member of the Baptist church, and from 1884 to 1886 served as president of the Baptist general association of the State. The general appreciation of his honorable career and valuable services to church and State were appropriately recognized in 1892, by the conferring upon him of the degree of LL. D., by Howard college of Alabama. Mr. Pollard still cherishes the memory of the days of the Confederacy, and maintains a membership with the veterans of R. E. Lee camp, of Richmond.

Richard Pollard, of Lynchburg, was born in Nelson county in 1829. He is a brother of the late Edward A. Pollard, famous as a journalist at Richmond, and as one of the earliest historians of the Confederate States, and a son of Maj. Richard Pollard, of the United States navy, who served in the war of 1812, and was subsequently United States minister to Chili during two administrations. Mr. Pollard was reared in Nelson and Albemarle coun-