Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1146

1070 living. Mr. Neal was reared at Danville and educated at Cedar Grove academy until the beginning of 1861. On April 23d, of that year, at the age of sixteen years, he enlisted as a private in Company B, Eighteenth Virginia infantry, with which he served in the battles of First Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines and the Seven Days' campaign before Richmond. He was then detailed as a courier, attached to the headquarters of General Pickett, and he was with that gallant officer throughout the remainder of the war, except a few months, in 1863, when, on account of injuries received by the fall of his horse, he was ordered in attendance at the Virginia military institute. At the battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865, he was captured by General Custer's men, and was then imprisoned at Point Lookout until June 12, 1865. On November 1, 1866, he was married to Rose P. Allen, of Danville, and making his home at that city, he engaged in the tobacco business, building the well-known planters' warehouse in 1869. He has been very active in the upbuilding of the city, has held a seat in the council many years, four years as vice-president, was for several years president of the chamber of commerce, and is a director of the Piedmont railroad. In 1894 he was appointed postmaster for the city by President Cleveland. Mr. Neal has one son, Orin Allen.

J. Stanley Neale, of Alexandria, is a native Virginian, born in King William county, November 16, 1845. He was reared and educated in his native county, and before he had attained his sixteenth birthday, enlisted, with youthful devotion to the cause of his State, as a private in the King William artillery under command of Capt. Thomas H. Carter. His service began on July 1, 1861. In the Peninsular campaign of 1862, he fought with his battery at the battle of Williamsburg, and subsequently in the severe struggle at Seven Pines, where he was seriously wounded by a shell. This injury incapacitated him for further service and he was honorably discharged. Then returning to King William county, he engaged in school teaching and farming, and continued in those occupations until 1888. In 1892 he removed to Alexandria and assumed the position of manager of the "Alexandria Times," where he has displayed notable ability as a business man and journalist. Though his service in the army of Northern Virginia was not long, it was as complete and devoted as any could be, and he cherishes with much pride his memories of the war, and as a member of Robert E. Lee camp, of Confederate Veterans, at Alexandria, maintains his comradeship with the survivors of the mighty struggle. He possesses two valuable and interesting relics of the Confederacy, in a copy of the "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," presented to him by President Davis, and a picture of Mr. Davis, also presented by him. Mr. Neale was married, in 1873, to Bettie C. Taliaferro, a relative of Gen. William B. Taliaferro, of Gloucester, and they have one child, Clayton Ashford Neale, now occupying a position in a bank at Washington City.

George W. Nelms, of Newport News, a gallant private in the Confederate army and first commander of Magruder camp, United Confederate Veterans, was born at Petersburg, Va., February 25, 1843, the son of James and Ann Eliza (Lane) Nelms, both natives of Virginia. He was reared at Petersburg and in Prince George