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Major-Generals and brigadier-generals, provisional army of the Confederate States, Accredited to Virginia.
Brigadier-General Joseph Reid Anderson, of
Virginia, was a graduate of the United States military academy, class of 1836.
He was appointed to a lieutenancy in the Third artillery.
He served for a time as assistant engineer in the engineer bureau at
Washington, and on July I, 1837, was transferred to the corps of engineers as brevet second lieutenant.
In this line of duty he assisted in the building of
Fort Pulaski, at the entrance of the
Savannah river.
He resigned his commission September 30, 1837, to accept the position of assistant engineer of the
State of Virginia; was chief engineer of the
Valley turnpike company, 1838-41, and subsequently, until the outbreak of war, was head of the firm of
Joseph R. Anderson & Co., proprietors of the Tredegar iron works and cannon foundry at
Richmond.
Entering the Confederate army, he was commissioned brigadier-general in September, 1861, and was assigned to command of the Confederate forces at
Wilmington, N. C. Early in the spring of 1862, he was called to
Virginia, and on April 25, 1862, he was ordered with his brigade to the vicinity of
Fredericksburg, where
General Field was then stationed, and instructed by
General Lee to assume command in that quarter, attack the enemy or confine his field of operations.
Fredericksburg was occupied by
McDowell's Federal troops, and
Anderson commanded the
Confederate force confronting him during the
Peninsula operations under
Johnston.
He was then assigned to a new division formed under
A. P. Hill, and in command of the Third brigade of
Hill's light infantry, he participated in the battles of
Mechanicsville,
Gaines' Mill and Frayser's Farm.
In the latter he was particularly distinguished in the gallant action of his
Georgia brigade, and was seriously wounded.
He resigned July 19, 1862.
Subsequently he gave his attention to the management of the Tredegar iron works.
His death occurred at the
Isle of Shoals, N. H., September 7, 1892.
