Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/53

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UNDER THE CONFEDERACY


41


1852, to assist Professor Minor, and two years later was advanced to the full profes- sorship of his subjects; in 1861 he was a member of the secession convention of Vir- ginia, and in 1862 was elected to the house of representatives of the Confederate con- gress and continued until 1863 ; was a firm believer in the cause of the southern Con- federacy, and vigorously advocated the jus- tice of the right of secession ; after the close of his term in the Confederate congress, he accepted an appointment as commissioner to Canada, representing the Confederate government: in 1868 he opened a school for boys in Bedford county, Virginia, and later removed the school to Capon Springs, West Virginia, and continued to direct it until his death, August 22, 1873; was an orator cf much eloquence and a writer of distin- guished merit, and some of the most valu- able of his writings were contributed to the publications of the Virginia Historical So- ciety, of which he was a member; he also wrote extensively for other periodicals, and published several law books: "Leading Cases on Commercial Law," New York, 1847 ; "Digest of the Decisions of the United States Supreme Court," 1848; and "Mer- chants' Book of Reference," 1848; he also published, in 1868, "Literature and Letters" : his death occurred at Capon Springs, West Virginia.

Holliday, F. W. M., (q. v.) : member of second Confederate congress.

Jenkins, Albert Gallatin, born in Cabell county, Virginia, November 10, 1830; en- tered the V^irginia Military Institute, then studied at Jefiferson College, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1848 ; immedi- ately took a course of la.v at Harvard, was


admitted to the bar in 1850, but never prac- ticed ; went instead to his plantation, and devoted himself to farming; his public spirit would not permit an absolute agricultural existence, and he became a delegate to the national Democratic convention, held in Cincinnati in 1856, and was then elected a representative from Virginia, serving in the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth congresses f:\I;irch 4, 1857-March 3, 1861) ; delegate in the Confederate provisional congress in 1861 ; enlisted in the Confederate service, appointed brigadier-genenal, August i, 1862; assigned to Gen. Hill's division, and after- wards transferred to Stuart's cavalry ; as a commander he was ever on the alert, and especially showed his genius in the hand- ling of his forces at the battle of Gettys- burg: he subsequently served in the Shen- andoah Valley, and in western Virginia, and was killed in the battle of Floyd's Mountain, near Dublin, Virginia, May 9, 1864.

Lyons, James, was born in Hanover town, Mrginia, in 1801, the eldest son of Dr. James Lyons, and grandson of Peter Lyons, presi- dent of the supreme court of appeals. He attended A\'illiam and Mary College in 1817, and settled in Richmond City, where he practiced law. In 1824, being then just twenty-three years old. he was sent by the city council to New York to arrange with LaFayette as to his visit to A'irginia. In the I'olitics of his day he was a states rights AMiig and drew the \'irginia ^^'hig address of 1840, pledging the Whig party against a bank and a protective tariflf. He was twice elected to the senate, and on his resignation from that body was elected to the house of delegates. On the death of John Tyler, Jan- uary 18, 1862, he was elected in his place to the hou'^e of representatives of the Confed-