James P. Yancey, of Richmond, one of the gallant survivors of the First Richmond Howitzers, now prominent in business circles of the Virginia capital, was born in Albemarle county, Va., in 1834. He was reared and educated in that county. In April, 1861, he entered the military service of the Confederate States as a private in the First Richmond Howitzers, with which he served throughout the entire war. Among the battles in which he participated are those at Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Savage Station, both the first and second battles at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and the final campaigns. He was paroled at Richmond in the fall of 1865. Making his home at that city he has in the subsequent years of peace achieved notable success in his enterprises and a high standing in the community.
Lieutenant Charles Edward Yeatman, of Norfolk, who held official rank in both the army and navy of the Confederate States, was born in Matthews county, Va., April 26, 1828. He was of a family of honorable record, both in Virginia and in England. The head of the family in the old country at present is Hayshe Yeatman, bishop of Southwark, the late major-general, Sir Yeatman Biggs, K. C. B., head of the British military in Calcutta, having died without issue. Charles C. Yeatman's great-grandfather, John Patterson, of Poplar Grove, Matthews county, Va., was a Revolutionary soldier, and fought at the battle of Monmouth, where his brother lost his life in the cause of freedom. His grandfather, Thomas Muse Yeatman, a lawyer of repute, being a graduate of William and Mary college, and a law student in the office of William Wirt, married Elizabeth Tabb Patterson, daughter of John Patterson, of Poplar Grove, who served for many years as clerk of Matthews county, an office in which he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Thomas R. Yeatman. Lieutenant. Yeatman was reared after the age of six years in Gloucester county at the home of his guardian and brother-in-law, Josiah L. Deans, and was educated at the Virginia military institute, and graduated in 1849. He was of the "49ers" who went to California, being one of a party of seventy-five who purchased the sailing ship Glenmore and sailed via Cape Horn to California. After three years in the land of gold he returned via the isthmus, and in 1854 began a career in railroad employment by becoming a baggage master on the old Virginia & Tennessee railroad. Promoted to passenger conductor, he served on different roads, being the first passenger conductor on the Richmond & York River road. Early in 1861 he was appointed lieutenant in the Virginia army but was instructed by General Lee to continue his duties upon the York River road, then used chiefly for military purposes. After the secession of the State, he was appointed acting master in the navy of the Confederate States, in which capacity he served about two months under Capt. Thomas Jefferson Page at the West Point navy yard. Subsequently and until the evacuation of Norfolk, and the consequent reduction of the naval commissions, he served as purchasing agent for the navy yards in Virginia, under Capt. John Maury. After this he was commissioned a lieutenant in the army and served under Col. T. J. Page as ordnance officer at Chaffin's bluff, until May, 1863, meanwhile participating in the first engagement at Drewry's bluff, one mile above them on the James river.
