Civil War Confederate Army Officer. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating seventh in the class of 1833. He was assigned to fight Native Americans in the frontier, then became an instructor of engineers at the Military Academy. Resigning to become a civil engineer in 1845, he returned to his Goochland County, Virginia plantation and farmed until 1861. When war broke out he was commissioned Captain of engineers and assigned to the staff of General P.G.T. Beauregard. He served during the July 21, 1861 Battle of First Bull Run, then went to the Mississippi River in 1862 to supervise the river defenses of Vicksburg. Sent to Charleston, South Carolina to design the coastal defense there, he was eventually assigned to Petersburg, Virginia to help keep Union General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James boxed into the Bermuda Hundred peninsula. Promoted to Colonel and sent back to Charleston, he contracted yellow fever in 1864, and died later in the year.
Civil War Confederate Army Officer. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating seventh in the class of 1833. He was assigned to fight Native Americans in the frontier, then became an instructor of engineers at the Military Academy. Resigning to become a civil engineer in 1845, he returned to his Goochland County, Virginia plantation and farmed until 1861. When war broke out he was commissioned Captain of engineers and assigned to the staff of General P.G.T. Beauregard. He served during the July 21, 1861 Battle of First Bull Run, then went to the Mississippi River in 1862 to supervise the river defenses of Vicksburg. Sent to Charleston, South Carolina to design the coastal defense there, he was eventually assigned to Petersburg, Virginia to help keep Union General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James boxed into the Bermuda Hundred peninsula. Promoted to Colonel and sent back to Charleston, he contracted yellow fever in 1864, and died later in the year.
Bio by: George Seitz
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