Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/668

628 college at LaGrange. He read law and was admitted to the bar in 1837, and two years later, at the age of twenty-one years, was chosen judge of probate. In 1845 he removed to Aberdeen, Mississippi, and there practiced law until 1861, when he organized a company of ^volunteers, which was assigned to the Twenty-seventh Mississippi regiment, of which he was commissioned major and subsequently lieutenant-colonel. He did duty as judge advocate of the army of Tennessee six months, and was then promoted colonel and ordered to report to General Bragg as chief of staff. On his return to Mississippi in 1865 he resumed his professional career, and held high rank among the jurists of the South. He died January 24, 1876.

William M. Browne, who rendered efficient service to the Confederate States in the capacity of assistant secretary of state, as well as in the military line of duty, was an Englishman of fine education, who came to America and became a naturalized citizen previous to 1861. For a time he edited a daily newspaper at Washington, D. C., with conspicuous ability. Upon the organization of the Confederate States he espoused the cause of secession, went South, and was appointed aide-de-camp on the staff of the President, with the rank of colonel of cavalry. In the department of organization work he served with fidelity and gained the appreciation and friendship of Mr. Davis. In December, 1864, he was commissioned brigadier-general, in which rank he served in command of a brigade under General H. W. Mercer at the siege of Savannah, Georgia, in the winter of 1864. General Browne had a remarkably attractive personal appearance and a courtly manner, which made all his acquaintances his friends. His acquirements as a scholar also, and his wide information in public affairs, were well-known and valued. After the close of hostilities he engaged in agriculture near Athens, Georgia, at the same