78
VIRGINIA BIOCiRAI'llV
fight at Five Forks, and on the retreat from
kichmond. At Appomattox he commanded
the cavalry on the Confederate right, and,
driving the enemy, moved toward Lynch-
burg. After the surrender of Gen. Lee, he
endeavored to rally the scattered Confed-
erate bands to make a junction with Gen.
Johnston, but failing, disbanded his men late
m April. He retired to his home at Lynch-
burg and lately has been residing' at Union-
town, Alabama. He has taken much inter-
est in getting the governor and legislature
to adopt a correct conception of the Vir-
ginia state seal.
Page, Richard L., was born in Clarke county, \'irginia, in 1807, son of William pjyrd Page and Ann (Lee) Page, his wife. He became a midshipman in the United States navy in 1824, and cruised with Com- modore Porter. In 1825 he was ordered to the Brandywine, to convey Lafayette to France. He later was on duty on the Con- stitution, the Constellation, and other famous vessels. In 1834 he was commissioned lieu- tenant, and after cruising in various ships until 1837, was given two years' leave of ab- sence to visit Europe. Returning, he per- formed ship and shore duty until 1845, when he was made executive officer and for two years lieutenant commanding Commodore Shubrick's flagship. Independence. After duty at the Norfolk navy yard, in 1852-54 he was in command of the brig Ft'rn', and on return ing, became executive officer at the Nor- folk navy yard. When Virginia seceded; he resigned, and was made aide on the staff of Gov. Letcher, and superintended the for- tifying of the James and Nansemond rivers. On June 10, 1861, he was commissioned commander. C. S. N., was ordnance officer
at Norfolk, and as a volunteer fired the
eleven-inch gun at Sewell's Point. Promoted
to captain, he sat up at Charlotte, North
Carolina, the machinery removed from the
Norfolk navy yard, and operated it for two
years, meantime commanding the naval
forces at Savannah for a time. On March
I, 1864, he was commissioned brigadier-
general, and commanded the outer works in
Mobile Bay, opposing Farragut's fleet, and
m.aking a heroic defense of Fort Morgan
until the building took fire, necessitating
capitulation. Gen. Page was held as a
prisoner of war until September, 1865, after
which time he resided in Norfolk, where he
was for several years superintendent of the
pul)Iic schools.
Paxton, Elisha Franklin, born in Rock- bridge county, in 1828, son of Elisha Pax- ton, who served in the war of 1812, and grandson of William Paxton, who com- manded a Rockbridge company at the siege of Yorktown, in 1781. He graduated from AVashington (Virginia) College, from Yale College, and in law from the University of \irginia, and practiced his profession at Lexfngton. He was an original secessionist. In April, 1861, as first lieutenant, he accom- panied his company to Harper's Ferry, and
- t was a part of the Fourth Virginia Regi-
ment at Manassas. In October, 1861, he was made major of the Twenty-seventh In- fantry. In the following spring he was at- tached to Gen. Jackson's staft', and shortly afterward was made adjutant-general and cliief-ot-staff. In September, 1872. he was promoted to brigadier-general, and given conmiand of the "Stonewall" brigade, which he commanded at Fredericksburg and Chan- cellorsville. Near Germanna Junction, on
