Col. J. J. Dickison, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 11.2, Florida
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[195]

Biographical.

Major-General James Patton Anderson was born in Tennessee about 1820. Like other enterprising Americans he lived in so many different sections of the Union that it is a difficult matter to decide to which State he really should be assigned in this record of Confederate generals. At the opening of the Mexican war he was living in Mississippi and became lieutenant-colonel of Mississippi volunteers. Although he had not had the advantages of an education at the United States military academy, the Mexican conflict proved a good school for him in the military art. The good use he made of his opportunities in that practical military training school was afterward evidenced by the skill with which he managed troops upon the great arena of war from 1861 to 1865. The man who obtained a good reputation on that great theater of action had to keep abreast of many illustrious men of the same rank with himself, and that is what General Anderson did. After the close of the Mexican war General Anderson lived for a time in Olympia, in what was then Washington Territory, and served as territorial delegate to the national House of Representatives in 1855. Before the opening of the Confederate war he had removed to Florida, and as a citizen of Jefferson county he was a member of the secession convention. Feeling, as did most Southern men, that the South was right, he entered heart and soul into the struggle to maintain Southern rights and honor. As early as December, 1860, before there has been any secession, but when everybody felt certain that such action would be taken, military companies were being formed and drilled. Anderson was captain of such a company— [196] the Jefferson Rifles. In April, 1861, he was colonel of the First Florida regiment of infantry, ready to go wherever the Confederate president might order. Stationed for some time at Pensacola, he was in command of one of the Confederate columns in the fight on Santa Rosa island, October, 1861. Early in 1862 he was promoted to brigadier-general, his command having been transferred to Corinth, Miss. At the battle of Shiloh his brigade was composed of the Seventeenth Louisiana, the Louisiana Guards Response battalion, the Florida battalion (First regiment) under Maj. T. A. McDonell, Ninth Texas, Twentieth Louisiana, and a company of the Washington artillery. Of his service General Bragg said: ‘Brig.-Gen. Patton Anderson was among the foremost where the fighting was hardest, and never failed to overcome whatever resistance was opposed to him. With a brigade composed almost entirely of raw troops his personal gallantry and soldierly bearing supplied the place of instruction and discipline.’ At Perryville he commanded a division of Hardee's corps, and was in charge of the extreme right. At Murfreesboro he commanded Walthall's brigade of Withers' division, Polk's corps. His participation in the magnificent right wheel of the army was inferior to that of none of the general officers who won fame on that day. It was his brigade which was ordered to take three batteries ‘at any cost,’ and succeeded under the lead of ‘its cool, steadfast and skillful commander.’ Subsequently he commanded Chalmer's brigade, and during the 18th and 19th of September was in command of Hindman's division, in the Chickamauga campaign. He was mentioned by General Longstreet as distinguished for conduct and ability. He commanded the same division at Missionary Ridge. On February 17, 1864, he was promoted to major-general and was assigned to command of the district of Florida. After serving five months in that capacity he was ordered to report to General Hood at Atlanta, Ga., in July, 1864, [197] and on his arrival was assigned to his old division, which he commanded in the battle of Ezra Church, during the siege, and until wounded in the battle of Jonesboro, which compelled him to leave the field, resulting in his absence from the army until March, 1865. Then, much against the advice and approval of his physicians, he returned to the army in North Carolina and was assigned to command of Taliaferro's division, Rhett's and Elliott's brigades from Charleston, and was with it when surrendered at Greensboro, N. C. After the close of hostilities he returned to Tennessee and died at Memphis in 1873.

Brigadier-General Robert Bullock was one of the influential men of Florida before the war. When his State seceded he gave his hearty support to her decision; organized a company in Marion county, and when the Seventh Florida was organized he was made lieutenant colonel. In 1862 this regiment served in East Tennessee in the brigade of Gen. W. G. M. Davis. The department was at that time commanded by Gen. E. Kirby Smith. At the time of the battle of Murfreesboro this brigade was still in Smith's department, and on June 2d Lieutenant-Colonel Bullock was commissioned colonel. When all available Confederate commands were being concentrated by Bragg to meet the advancing army of Rosecrans, the Seventh Florida was one of the regiments assigned to Trigg's brigade of the division of Gen. William Preston. The losses in this division at Chickamauga bear strong testimony to the desperate nature of the fighting there. At the battle of Missionary Ridge the Seventh Florida fought in the brigade of General Finley and the division of General Bate. In this brigade and division it continued to serve throughout the Atlanta campaign under Colonel Bullock, who had already distinguished himself as a cool and gallant commander. Some of the hardest fighting of the Atlanta campaign was done by this division, and the Seventh Florida acted a [198] gallant part in it all. During the campaign into Tennessee Colonel Bullock led Finley's brigade, and was one of the gallant participants in the terrible battle of Franklin. Maj.-Gen. Wm. B. Bate, in his official report of the Tennessee campaign, pays a high compliment to Colonel Bullock. He says: ‘T. B. Smith, commanding Tyler's brigade, and Col. Robert Bullock, commanding Finley's, bore themselves with heroic courage, both through good and evil fortune, always executing orders with zeal and alacrity, and bearing themselves in the face of the enemy as became reputations which each had heretofore bravely won. The latter was severely wounded near Murfreesboro, and was succeeded by Major Lash, whose coolness and gallantry were marked.’ Colonel Bullock came out of the Tennessee campaign with the temporary rank of brigadier-general.

Brigadier-General Theodore W. Brevard, then in the rank of major, was commanding a battalion in the department of Florida in 1862-63. This was at first a cavalry command, designated as Brevard's Partisan Rangers, and consisting of four companies. In the first months of 1861 Florida and South Carolina were considered the seat of war, and military commands were hurried in considerable numbers to Pensacola and Charleston. The latter city was the object of attack from 1862 to the close of the conflict. In Florida there was no important battle until Seymour's invasion in February, 1864. In a skirmish that occurred in the suburbs of Jacksonville on March 11, 1863, Major Brevard was commended for gallant conduct by General Finegan, who, in a report of a skirmish near Lake City on March 31st, says: ‘My orders were executed by Major Brevard with promptness, gallantry and discretion.’ In December, 1863, Brevard's battalion (the First Florida) had been increased to five companies, and Major Brevard had been promoted to lieutenantcol-onel. This battalion was in the brigade of Gen. Joseph [199] Finegan and participated in the battle of Olustee, February 20, 1864, the most important battle fought in Florida during the war. It was for the time decisive of the fate of that State, completely thwarting the Federal scheme for its conquest and reconstruction. When the Virginia campaign of 1864 opened, Finegan's brigade was sent to Richmond and participated in the battle of Cold Harbor, where it distinguished itself by recapturing, in a hand-to-hand conflict, the only part of the line where the Federals in their desperate charge made even the faintest show of success on that day, the most disastrous to Grant of his whole military career. In this battle Brevard led his battalion. In August, 1864, he was promoted to colonel of the Eleventh Florida, and in December he had command of that regiment and of Bonaud's battalion. On March 22, 1865, he was commissioned brigadier-general, a promotion richly deserved. Soon after this came the close of the war. Upon the restoration of peace General Brevard returned to Florida and strove to be as useful to his State under the new order of things as he had been when, as her valiant defender in the days of war, he braved the hardships and dangers of that fearful struggle which had so sorely tried the patience and endurance of the stoutest hearts. Up to the time of his death he enjoyed the love and esteem of his countrymen, and his memory is cherished by the people of Florida.

Brigadier-General W. G. M. Davis was before the war a lawyer in Florida, widely known as a gentleman of great legal ability and high rank in his profession. Forsaking his practice in 1861, he raised a regiment and was on January 1, 1862, commissioned colonel of the First Florida cavalry and put in command of the provisional forces of east Florida. The Federals had already seized Fernandina, Jacksonville and other places along the coast. The chief business of Colonel Davis' regiment [200] was to watch the movements of the enemy carefully, and as far as possible to prevent raiding or scouting parties of the Federals from penetrating into the interior. Gov. John Milton was very much opposed to the raising of cavalry commands for the defense of Florida, insisting that nothing but artillery and infantry were needed for the defense of that State. The executive council of the State passed a resolution requesting the governor to correspond with the President as to the necessity of the regiment being converted into an infantry regiment and being kept in the State for its defense. On March 25, 1862, Colonel Davis and his regiment were ordered to report to Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, and were assigned to east Tennessee, where they were kept busy watching the movements of the enemy, scouting and overawing the disaffected in that part of the Confederacy. On November 4, 1862, he was commissioned brigadier-general and was placed in command of the department of East Tennessee. His brigade embraced the First Florida cavalry, the Sixth and Seventh Florida infantry and Martin's light battery. His scene of operations was a wild and difficult mountain region throughout which were people disaffected toward the Confederacy. It was necessary to control and at the same time to use much discretion in dealing with them. So the task of a department commander in that section was a very difficult one. During the time in which he exercised command his department was quite free from the presence of Federal troops. On the 5th of May, 1863, he resigned his commission and retired from the military service of the Confederate States.

Brigadier-General Joseph Finegan, a prominent lawyer and statesman in Florida before the war, was early in 1861 placed by Gov. John Milton at the head of military affairs in the State. He was commissioned brigadier-general on April 5, 1862, and from the 8th of that month until the battle of Olustee commanded the department [201] or district of Middle and East Florida. The coast of Florida was from the beginning of the war at the mercy of the Federal fleet, and within the limits of the State were only a few scattered Confederate troops. Early in 1864, when it had been found that Charleston was too strong for the Federal army and fleet combined, General Gilmore, who commanded the department of the South, decided to make an effort to overrun Florida and annex it to the Union. It was considered desirable by the United States authorities that some of the Southern States should be brought so completely under the control of the Union army as to enable such of the inhabitants, white and black, as might desire to do so, to form what they called ‘loyal’ State governments and be readmitted to the Union. Florida seemed to offer good prospect of success in such an undertaking. An army under Gen. Truman Seymour and the fleet of Admiral Dahlgren attempted the task of subduing Florida, and General Finegan found himself in a dangerous position, demanding skillful generalship and courageous firmness. So well did he perform his part that a signal victory was obtained at Olustee, and the Federal enterprise entirely defeated. He was soon succeeded by General Gardner as commander of the district of Middle and Eastern Florida, and was sent to Virginia in May at the head of a Florida brigade, with which Perry's old brigade was consolidated. At the second battle of Cold Harbor General Finegan and his Florida brigade had a good opportunity for distinction, and made memorable use of the occasion to the credit of themselves and their State. This was the memorable 3d of June, when Grant's charging columns broke through a weak point in Breckinridge's line. Immediately Finegan's brigade rushed into the breach and in a desperate fight drove back the assailants with heavy loss to Hancock's troops. General Finegan served from that time with the army of Northern Virginia until March 20, 1865, when he was again assigned to duty in Florida. After [202] the war he returned to the profession of law. On the 29th of October, 1885, he died at Sanford, Fla.

Brigadier-General Jesse Johnson Finley was born in Wilson county, Tenn., on the 18th of November, 1812. He was educated at Lebanon and began the study of law. But about that time the Seminole war began and young Finley, having recruited a company of mounted volunteers, served in the army as captain. Returning home in 1838 he was admitted to the bar. In 1840 he removed to Mississippi county, Ark. The young lawyer, who seems to have been a born leader of men, at once rose to prominence and was elected to the State senate in 1841. The following year he resigned this position and going to Memphis, Tenn., began the practice of law. He was elected mayor of that city in 1845. In 1846 he removed to Marianna, Fla. Here he soon became prominent, and in 1850 was elected to the State senate. In 1852 he was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket, and in 1853 was appointed judge of the west circuit of Florida. When the war began he sided with the Confederate cause, and in 1861 he was made judge of the Confederate court. In March 1862 he resigned this post of honor and entered the army as a private; was soon promoted to a captaincy, and on April 14, 1862, was commissioned as colonel of the Sixth Florida regiment. He was on duty in east Tennessee in Davis' brigade, Heth's division, Kirby Smith's department; took part in the Kentucky campaign and after the return to Knoxville served as president of the court-martial for the department until ordered to Tullahoma. He commanded his regiment in the battle of Chickamauga with distinction. On November 16, 1863, he was commissioned brigadier-general and assigned to command of the Florida infantry in the army of Tennessee, united in a brigade of Bate's division, Hardee's corps. He commanded this gallant brigade at Missionary Ridge, and rendered distinguished service with the rear guard under [203] General Bates. In the May campaign of 1864 he took part until at the battle of Resaca he was severely wounded, causing his disability until after Johnston's army had reached Atlanta. At Jonesboro in an assault upon the enemy's lines he was again seriously wounded by a fragment of shell, which also killed his horse. He declined to be sent to the rear to take train until all his wounded men were embarked, and narrowly escaped capture through the faithfulness of a driver who took him in a commissary wagon after the last train had left. He was unfit for duty during the subsequent campaigns of General Hood. Soon after the army was ordered to North Carolina, his wound being partially healed, he started to rejoin his brigade; but his progress being interfered with by the Federal movements, he reported to General Cobb at Columbus, and was assigned to duty. When Wilson's Federal troops entered Columbus he made his escape with General Toombs to Eufaula, and soon afterward hostilities ceased. General Finley then returned to Florida and lived for a time in Lake City. In 1875 he removed to Jacksonville. He served in Congress from 1875 to 1879. In 1879 he was again elected but the seat was contested and given to his opponent. In 1887 he was appointed by Governor Perry to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate until an election could be held. Since the expiration of that service he has lived quietly at his Florida home.

Major-General William Wing Loring was a soldier from his boyhood. He was born in Wilmington, N. C., December 4, 8 18; in early childhood became a resident of Florida, and when only fourteen years of age was in the ranks of the volunteers, fighting Indians in the swamps and everglades. He did not have a West Point training, but he was educated in the true school of the soldier—active campaign life. On June 16, 1837, he was appointed a second lieutenant. After that he went to school at Alexandria, [204] Va., and Georgetown, D. C. He afterward studied law and was admitted in 1842 to practice. He then went back to Florida and before long was elected to the State legislature, of which he remained a member for three years. In the Seminole war of 1836-38 he was appointed senior captain of a regiment of mounted riflemen, and in the following year he was made major commanding. He served under General Scott in all the battles of the Mexican war, from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, and for gallant conduct was brevetted lieutenant colonel and then colonel. While entering the city of Mexico at the head of his regiment he lost his left arm. After the war the citizens of Apalachicola, Fla., presented him with a sword. In 1849, during the gold fever in California, Colonel Loring was ordered to take his regiment across the continent and take command of the department of Oregon. On this occasion he marched his command a distance of 2,500 miles, taking with him a train of 600 mule teams. He held the command of the department of Oregon until 185. For five years he was in command on the frontier and fought many combats with the Indians, then by permission he visited Europe and studied the military systems of the various nations. On his return he was placed in command of the department of New Mexico, but during that very year the long sectional quarrel between the North and South changed from a war of words to open hostilities. Loring naturally sided with the South. The Confederate government was glad to accept his services, and on the 20th of May, 1861, commissioned him as brigadier-general. After the defeat and death of Gen. Robert Garnett, in western Virginia, General Loring was sent to take charge of the Confederate forces in that quarter. He commanded one wing of the army under Lee in the Cheat Mountain campaign, where the soldiers had little fighting but abundance of hardship. In December, 1861, Loring's command united with Stonewall Jackson at Winchester, [205] and in January was engaged in the winter expedition to Bath, Hancock and Romney. Through General Loring's solicitations to the war department at Richmond his division, which had been left at Romney, was ordered back to Winchester. This interference on the part of the government at Richmond came near causing the resignation of General Jackson. On the 5th of February, 1862, General Loring was commissioned major general and assigned to the command of the army of Southwest Virginia. Nothing of any great importance occurred in that region, the soldiers being for the most part occupied in picket duty and occasional skirmishes with the enemy. In December, 1862, Loring was sent to take command of the First corps of the army of Mississippi. He had charge for a while of Fort Pemberton, which was designed to defend Vicksburg from any expedition sent by way of Yazoo pass. It was a cotton-bale fortification, constructed by Captain Robinson of the Confederate engineers, and situated on the overflowed bottom lands of the Tallahatchie and Yallabusha rivers, near their junction. Here General Loring, with three cannon and 1,500 men, defeated a fleet and land force. In the hottest of the fight Loring stood upon the cottonbale parapet and shouted to his men: ‘Give them blizzards, boys! Give them blizzards!’ From this time his men nicknamed him ‘Old Blizzards.’ At the disastrous battle of Baker's Creek Loring was cut off from the rest of the army. Finding there was no chance to reunite with the main body he marched his division eastward and joined General Johnston at Jackson. He and his troops were thus fortunately saved from being shut up and captured in Vicksburg. He was subsequently under the command of Johnston and then of Polk in north Mississippi. At the opening of the campaign of 1864 Polk hastened to Georgia to make a junction with the army under Joseph E. Johnston. During the Atlanta campaign General Loring commanded a division in Polk's [206] corps and, after the death of Polk, the corps itself until the appointment of Gen. A. P. Stewart. Loring continued to command his division in Stewart's corps until the surrender of the army of Tennessee in North Carolina. After the war he went abroad, and in 1869 with other Confederate officers entered the service of the khedive of Egypt, and was appointed inspector-general. In 1870 he was made commandant of Alexandria and given charge of the coast defenses of Egypt. In 1875-76, during the Abyssinian war, General Loring commanded the Egyptian army. He was raised to the dignity of pasha for his services. In 1879 he and the other American officers in the service of the khedive were mustered out and returned to the United States, after which he resided in Florida for a while and then made his home at New York, where he wrote his book entitled ‘A Confederate Soldier in Egypt’ He died at New York, December 30, 1886.

Brigadier-General William Miller.—Before and after the secession of Florida there was great mustering of the State troops, and busy preparations were everywhere made for the coming struggle, which all feared might come, though many hoped that it would be avoided. Among those who forsook the occupations of peace to take up arms in defense of State sovereignty was William Miller, one of the most gallant of Florida's soldiers. He was in command of a battalion which was consolidated with McDonell's battalion of the First regiment after the battle of Shiloh, and after that Colonel Miller commanded the First regiment in the operations culminating in the battle of Perryville, Ky. In the Kentucky campaign the First Florida was in the brigade of Gen. John C. Brown and the division of Gen. J. Patton Anderson. In the battle of Perryville General Brown was wounded and Colonel Miller led the brigade through the rest of the fight. At Murfreesboro this regiment was in the brigade of Gen. [207] William Preston and the division of Gen. John C. Breckinridge. In the magnificent but disastrous charge of that division on January 2, 1863, the gallant Miller, commanding the First and Third Florida consolidated, was wounded. General Preston in his report says, ‘Colonel Miller, of the First and Third Florida, was wounded on Friday while bravely leading his regiment, which he withdrew, retaining the command notwithstanding his wounds.’ While being healed of his injury Colonel Miller was placed in charge of the Confederate conscript bureau in southern Florida and Alabama. On August 2, 1864, he was commissioned brigadier-general, and on September 8th was ordered to take immediate command of the reserve forces of the State of Florida, to complete their organization and place them at once in service. On the 29th of September, in addition to his other duties, General Miller was assigned to the command of the district of Florida, where he took an active part in the events of that period and until the close of the war.

Brigadier-General Edward Aylesworth Perry was born in Richmond, Berkshire county, Mass., March 15, 1833. He entered Yale college, but before the completion of his course removed to Alabama, where he studied law. After admission to the bar, in 1857, he moved to Pensacola, Fla., where he began the practice of his chosen profession. He fully shared the sentiments of the people of his adopted State, and when the civil war commenced he raised a company, of which he was elected captain. His command became a part of the Second Florida regiment, of which Captain Perry became colonel in May, 1862. The regiment was sent to Virginia and was attached to the division of Gen. James Longstreet. Colonel Perry commanded the regiment at Seven Pines and in the Seven Days battles around Richmond, and from the first the regiment and its commander were conspicuous for valor and efficiency. At Frayser's [208] Farm he was severely wounded. General Longstreet mentions him among others as distinguished for gallantry and skill. He was commissioned brigadier-general on August 28, 1862, and upon his recovery was put in command of the newly organized Florida brigade, which he led at Chancellorsville. In the battle of Gettysburg Perry's brigade, with Wright's and Wilcox's, pressed close up to the Federal lines, and at one time broke through; but for lack of support had to be withdrawn from the advanced position. It is claimed by Perry's brigade that its losses at Gettysburg were heavier than those of any other brigade of the Confederate army. In the battle of the Wilderness General Perry was a second time severely wounded. After the close of the war he returned to the practice of law in the city of Pensacola. During the gloomy period of reconstruction he remained true to the interests of the people of Florida. The result of the war had not changed his views of the constitutional rights of the States, and not even by silence did he give seeming approval to the corrupt methods or usurpations of that epoch. He took an active interest in political affairs, and in 1884 he was elected governor of Florida on the Democratic ticket. This office he held for four years, and within a year after the expiration of his term he died, October 15, 1889.

Brigadier-General Francis A. Shoup was born at Laurel, Franklin county, Ind., March 22, 1834. He was appointed a cadet at West Point from Indiana, and was graduated in 1855 as brevet second lieutenant of artillery. He served in garrison at Key West and Fort Moultrie; was commissioned second lieutenant December 6, 1855, and served against the Seminoles in Florida, from 1856 to 1858. He resigned in 1860, and beginning the study of law was admitted to the bar at St. Augustine, Fla., early in 1861. In the war of 1861-65 he espoused heartily the cause of the South, and early in the struggle, under the order of the governor of Florida, he erected a battery at Fernandina. [209] He was appointed a lieutenant of artillery in the Confederate army and was at first ordered to report to General Hardee in the Trans-Mississippi department. In October, 1861, he was commissioned major of artillery and was in command of a battalion of twelve guns with the Arkansas troops in Kentucky. General Hardee, in assuming command of the army of Central Kentucky, made him chief of artillery, in which capacity he served at the battle of Shiloh. He it was who massed the artillery against the position occupied by the command of Prentiss on the memorable first day at Shiloh, thus becoming an important factor in the capture of that fine body of Union troops. Under Beauregard he held the important post of inspector of artillery. He was sent with Hindman to Arkansas; was his chief of artillery, and as such participated in the battle of Prairie Grove. On September 12, 1862, he was promoted to brigadier-general; and in April, 1863, he was ordered to Mobile, Ala., as chief of artillery for General Buckner. At Vicksburg he commanded a Louisiana brigade and was captured upon the fall of that city. After being exchanged he served as chief of artillery to Joseph E. Johnston and gained the hearty commendation of his commander and the esteem of the soldiers. It was in a great measure due to his skillful management of the artillery that not a gun was lost in the several retreats of the army of Tennessee from Dalton to Atlanta in 1864. The works at the Chattahoochee, which Sherman declared were the best he had ever seen, were constructed under his supervision. Upon the removal of Johnston General Hood made Shoup his chief of staff. After the fall of Atlanta he was relieved at his own request. He was the author of a pamphlet urging the enlistment of negro troops, which was submitted to the Confederate congress. The year after the close of the war he was elected to the chair of applied mathematics in the university of Mississippi. Here he studied for the ministry and was admitted to orders in the Episcopal church, of which he had become a [210] member while the Confederate army was in camp at Dalton, April, 1864. He officiated as rector at Waterford, N. Y., Nashville, Tenn., and New Orleans, La.; also filled the chair of metaphysics in the university of the South, at Sewanee, Tenn. He is the author of a work on ‘Infantry Tactics’; while in Atlanta, in 1864, prepared a text-book on ‘Artillery Division Drill,’ and in 1874 he published the ‘Elements of Algebra.’

Major-General Martin L. Smith was another of the many gentlemen of Northern birth who, residing in the South, adopted the sentiments of the people among whom they lived, and with zeal and loyalty supported the Confederate cause. State sovereignty was the political doctrine of the majority of the founders of the Republic, and at times had been asserted by leading men of every political party. Hence it is not surprising that Northern men living in the South were just as prompt to resent any infringement of the rights of their adopted States as were the native-born citizens. It is a well-known fact that many people living in the North believed in the justice of the Southern cause and sympathized with the Southern people in their desperate struggle against overwhelming odds. General Smith was born at New York City, in 1819. He entered the United States military academy in 1838 and was graduated in 1842 as brevet second lieutenant, topographical engineers. He became full second lieutenant in 1843; served during the Mexican war as lieutenant of topographical engineers, and was brevetted first lieutenant May 30, 1848, for meritorious conduct while making surveys in the enemy's country. He was also employed by the government in making surveys for the improvement of Savannah river and for a ship canal across the Florida peninsula. In July, 1856, he was commissioned captain for fourteen years continuous service. During this time he had also been engaged in surveys in the department of Texas. From 1856 to 1861 he was chief engineer of [211] the Fernandina & Cedar Keys railroad in Florida. Spending most of his mature life among the people of the South, Captain Smith, from his observation and experience of Southern affairs, became fully convinced of the justice of the position taken by the Southern people, and when it became evident that war would soon begin he resigned his commission April 1, 1861, and offered his services to the Confederate States. He was at once commissioned as major in the corps of engineers, May 16, 1861, and accredited to Florida. In this position his services were so well approved that on April 1, 1862, he was made a brigadier-general. He was at first assigned to the army of Northern Virginia as chief of engineers, but was soon after sent to the West. He performed important duties at New Orleans, and on June 26, 1862, was put in charge of the Third district of south Mississippi and east Louisiana. At the head of the engineer corps he planned and constructed the defenses of Vicksburg, where he resisted the naval attack of the summer of 1862; was in chief command in December, 1862, and repulsed the attack of General Sherman; and during the campaign of May, 1863, and the siege of Vicksburg, commanded with great distinction a division composed of the brigades of Shoup, Baldwin and Vaughn. More than any other Confederate general he was identified with the romantic story of the famous stronghold of the great river, the loss of which doomed the cause for which he fought. On November 4, 1862, he had been promoted to major-general. After his exchange he continued to serve the Confederacy as chief of engineers until the close of the war, his last service being at Mobile, Ala. He did not long survive the war, dying at Savannah, Ga., July 29, 1866.

Brigadier-General William S. Walker, of Florida, began his career as midshipman in the United States navy. He participated in the Mexican war as a staff officer with the rank of lieutenant. At the time of the threatened [212] seizure of Fort Pickens, near Pensacola, Fla., he was still in the United States service commanding the United States ship-of-war Brooklyn. Soon after the secession of Florida he resigned his commission in the navy of the United States and entered the service of the Confederate States as captain of infantry. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel, and on the 22d of October, in command at Pocotaligo, S. C., he defeated a Union force that attempted to seize the Charleston & Savannah railroad. Eight days later he was promoted to brigadier-general, and during the balance of the year he was in command of the Third military district of South Carolina. His position was one which required great diligence and watchfulness, in order to protect the coast of South Carolina from sudden incursions of the enemy. As the spring of 1864 opened, all troops that could possibly be spared from the department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida were sent to the armies in Virginia and Georgia. On April 29, 1864, General Walker was ordered to Kinston, N. C., to take command of that post and soon afterward he was called by Beauregard to assist in the defense of Petersburg, at that time seriously threatened by Butler's advance. General Walker reached the army concentrated by Beauregard in time to share in the attack upon Butler. During a fight on May 20th he accidentally rode into the enemy's lines, and when called upon to surrender refused and was fired upon. His horse was killed and he was himself so severely wounded in the foot that amputation became necessary. He remained a prisoner of war until exchanged in the fall, when on the 29th of October he was placed in command at Weldon. He was commanding in North Carolina when the war ended. General Walker removed to Georgia after the war, and in 1898 was a citizen of Atlanta.