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[348] found employment as express agent and city marshal at Wilmington, subsequently engaged in farming until 1878, and then accepted a position as civil engineer in charge of river and harbor improvements by the national government, making his home at New Bern. General Ransom was married in 1856 to Minnie Huntt, of Washington, who died in 1881 , leaving eight children. In 1884 he married Katherine DeWitt Lumpkin, of Columbus, Ga.


Brigadier-General William Paul Roberts

Brigadier-General William Paul Roberts was born in Gates county, N. C., July 1, 1841. Before he was twenty years old he entered the Confederate service as a noncommissioned officer in the Nineteenth North Carolina regiment, or Second cavalry, Col. S. B. Spuill. He was promoted third lieutenant August 30, 1861; first lieutenant September 13, 1862; captain November 19, 1863, and though the junior captain, soon attained the rank of major. He served with distinction during the operations of the regiment in North Carolina, until transferred to Virginia in the fall of 1862. He then served on the Rappahannock line, at Fredericksburg, in the Suffolk campaign, and in the famous battle of Brandy Station, where the gallant Col. Sol Williams was killed. After participating in the fighting of the spring of 1864, in the North Carolina brigade of W. H. F. Lee's division, Roberts was promoted to colonel of the regiment. At Reams' Station, August 25th, with his regiment dismounted he made a gallant charge upon the enemy's rifle-pits, carrying them handsomely and capturing a number of prisoners. February 21 , 1865, he was promoted brigadiergen-eral, and General Lee's gauntlets were presented him by the great chieftain as a mark of personal recognition of the young hero's distinguished gallantry. With his command, mainly composed of North Carolinians, he fought with valor at Five Forks, and during the retreat to Appomattox. After the close of hostilities he addressed

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