Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1006

940 These same maps were also used in the war records of the United States. For two years Major Hotchkiss taught a select school for boys, mostly sons of his war comrades. He then opened an office as a civil, mining and consulting engineer, the profession of his remaining years. He used his vast knowledge of the mineral, forestal and other resources of the Virginias in securing the investment of millions by foreign and northern capitalists within their borders. At General Lee's request he was made topographer of "The Physical Survey of the South," but this work ceased within a year, upon General Lee's death. In 1872 and again in 1874 he visited England and Scotland to induce emigration to Virginia, and lectured, by invitation, before the Royal Society of Arts, London, on "The Virginias," and a large edition of the paper was printed and distributed. In 1875 he prepared "A Summary of Virginia" for the State, a work teeming with facts and illustrated by fine maps. He also lectured with Dr. Barnas Sears, to popularize the public school system through the entire South. In 1879 he was the special census agent on the mineral resources of Virginia; in 1894 he served as United States expert topographer on the battlefield of Antietam; and from 1880 to 1886 he published "The Virginias," a monthly paper, still an authority on the resources of the two States. He was a commissioner to the New Orleans and Louisville expositions, a judge of mines and mining at the Columbian exposition in 1893, and a member of the American philosophical society, the Mining Engineers, the Geographical society, the Geological society, the American association for the advancement of science, and numerous other bodies. He was the first to lecture on Stonewall Jackson, and this address, "The Valley Campaign of 1862," was unique and unapproachable in style and matter, illustrated by maps drawn on the blackboard in colored crayons, which grew as the lecture progressed, and was completed with the final words. It was delivered all over the land, from Boston to Chicago and New Orleans. Major Hotchkiss was an ardent Confederate, the founder of Stonewall Jackson camp in Staunton, Va., and major-general of engineers on the staff of Gen. J. B. Gordon of the United Confederate Veterans. He was a generous donor to the Young Men's Christian association, a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and a born teacher, his mind being stored with the classic and modern tongues, the natural sciences, history, poetry and art, ever generously bestowed on others. He was a zealous Presbyterian, a Sabbath-school teacher, superintendent and elder; a well-rounded Christian character, of beautiful purity and cheerfulness. Major Hotchkiss died at his residence, "The Oaks," at Staunton, Va., January 17, 1899.

Captain Benjamin F. Howard, of Richmond, distinguished in the annals of the old First Virginia regiment, and prominently associated with the public service of the city of Richmond since the war, was born at Washington, D. C., in 1835. At that city he received his education and remained there until June, 1860, when he became a citizen of Richmond and found employment as a stone cutter. On April 21, 1861, he entered the Confederate service as second sergeant of Company I of the First Virginia infantry. On April 26, 1862, at the reorganization of his command at Yorktown, he was promoted lieutenant, and with this rank he participated in