ii6
\'ir(;l\ia biography
burg, Virginia, March 2, 1894. He received
a good education, enjoying the benefit of the
best schools in his region of the country,
and was well grounded in the dead lan-
guages and elementary mathematics. He
was appointed to the United States Military
Academy at West Point. New York, Ijy
President-General Jackson through the
agency of Hon. N. H. Claiborne, member of
Congress from his district, in 1833, and
graduated in 1837. His highest standing in
any branch, during military studies at West
Point, was in military and civil engineer-
ing, in which he stood sixth in his class, and
his general standing at graduation was
eighteenth. Among those graduating in his
class were : General Braxton Bragg, Lieu-
tenant-General John C. Pemberton, Major-
Generals Arnold, Elzey and William H. T.
Walker, and a few others of the Confeder-
ate army; and Major-Generals John Sedg-
wick, Joseph Hooker, William H. French,
and several brigadier-generals of minor note
in the Federal army. Among his contem-
poraries at West Point were : General Beau-
regard, Lieutenant-General Elwell, Major-
General Edward Johnson, and some others
of distinction in the Confederate army ; Ma-
jor-Generals McDowell and Meade, and sev-
eral others in the Federal army. On gradu-
ating he was appointed second lieutenant
in the Third Regiment of Artillery, and was
assigned to Company E. He served in the
Seminole war, 1837-38, under General Jes-
sup. He went through the campaign from
the St. John's river south into Everglades,
and was present at a skirmish with Indians
on the Lockee Hatchee, near Jupiter Inlet
in January, 1838. This was his baptism of
fire,«hearing for the first time the whistling
of hostile bullets.
In the fall of the year 1838, having re- signed from the army, he commenced the study of law in the office of N. M. Talia- ferro, Esq., an eminent lawyer of Franklin county. During the Mexican war he was appointed major in a regiment of volun- teers from Virginia, and was mustered into service, January 7, 1847. During his mili- tary service he was a strict disciplinarian, but was never harsh in his treatment of his men, and was always respected and loved by them. After the war he returned to his law practice, which soon became consider- able, and he was one of the best lawyers in his section of the state.
He sat in the state legislature in 1841-42,
and was commonwealth attorney from 1842
tu 1852 except during 1847-48, when he
served in the Mexican war as before stated.
In 1861 he was a member of the Virginia
convention called to determine the true
j)osition of the state in the impending con-
flict, and at first earnestly opposed seces-
sion, but was soon aroused by the aggres-
sive movements of the Federal government
to draw his sword for the defense of his
native state and the Confederate cause. He
was commissioned colonel of the Twenty-
fourth Regiment of Virginia Infantry, and
with this rank commanded a brigade at
Blackburn's Ford and Manassas, in the lat-
ter battle making a successful onslaught
upon the Federal right in flank which aided
in precipitating the rout which immediate-
ly followed. He was promoted brigadier-
general to date from that battle. At Wil-
liamsburg he led the charge of his brigade
upon the Federal position, and was wounded.
In the Manassas campaign of 1862 he com-
manded a brigade of Ewell's division of
Jackson's corps, participating in the same
around Pope and the defeat of the Federal
army in the final engagement.
In the Maryland campaign and at Sharps- burg, after the wounding of General Law- ton, he took command of Ewell's division, and also skillfully directed it at a critical moment against the Federal attack at Fred- ericksburg. In January, 1863, he was pro- moted major-general, and during the Chan- cellorsville campaign was left with his divis- ion and Barksdale's brigade, about ten thousand men, to hold the heights of Fred- ericksburg, where he made a gallant fight against Sedgwick's corps. At the opening of the Pennsylvania campaign he was eii- trusted by Ewell with the attack upon Win- chester, which resulted in the rout of Mil- roy and the capture of four thousand, and thence he marched via York toward Har- risburg, Pennsylvania, until recalled from the Susquehanna river, which he had reached, to the field of Gettysburg, where he actively participated in the successes of the first day's fighting, and on the second day made a desperate assault on the Fed- erals, gaining vantage ground which he was unable to hold singlehanded. At the open- ing fight in the Wilderness, in temporary command of Hill's corps, he successfully resisted the Federal attempt to flank the
