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army.
Since the end of the war
General Sorrel has been a merchant in the city of
Savannah, and connected with a steamship company.
Brigadier-General Marcellus A. Stovall was born at
Sparta, Ga., September 18, 1 818.
Both of his grandfathers were officers in the Revolution of 1776, the maternal grandfather,
Capt. John H. Lucas, being present at the surrender of Cornwallis.
His father was Pleasant
Stovall, a wealthy and successful merchant of
Augusta, who sent his son to school in
Massachusetts.
In the winter of 1835, though only seventeen years old,
Marcellus enlisted for the
Seminole war, being the youngest man in the Richmond Blues of
Augusta, Ga., and never missed a day of service in the entire expedition.
In 1836 he entered the United States military academy at
West Point, but was prevented from finishing his course by a severe and continued attack of rheumatism.
After leaving
West Point he made a tour of
Europe.
Returning to
Augusta in 1839 he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and was a ruling spirit in the volunteer military companies of
Georgia.
In 1842 he married
Sarah G. McKinne, of
Augusta.
In 1846 he moved to
Floyd county, and was living upon his beautiful estate near
Rome when the civil war broke out. Being at the time captain of the Cherokee artillery, he offered his services to
Governor Brown.
His record as a military man was such that he was made colonel of artillery and attached to the Second brigade of Georgia volunteers.
On the 8th of October, 1861, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Third Georgia battalion of infantry, and was ordered to
Richmond, Va. After performing garrison duty a short time at
Lynchburg, Va., and
Goldsboro, N. C., he was ordered to
east Tennessee to guard bridges and protect the
Southern men of that section.
In the summer of 1862 he took part in the engagement at
Waldron's ridge, and in August accompanied
Kirby Smith into
Kentucky.
While stationed at
Lexington,