Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1156

1080 Spottsylvania, Culpeper and Chapin's Farm. After the latter fight before Richmond, in September, 1864, he was put upon detailed duty, and during the remainder of the Confederate occupation of Richmond, was connected with wharf construction on the James river. After the end of the conflict, until 1869, he had employment upon a steamer running to Philadelphia, but since then he has been in business for himself, since 1881 at West Point. He is a member of John R. Cook camp. In 1862 Mr. O'Connor was married to Catherine Murphy, and they have a son and two daughters living.

Colonel Charles Triplett O'Ferrall, thirty-ninth governor of Virginia, was distinguished in the Confederate service as an officer of cavalry, as well in the more important encounters with the enemy as in many daring forays and expeditions. He was born on a farm in Frederick county, Va., October 21, 1840. His father, John O'Ferrall, of Irish descent, was a soldier in the war of 1812, a prominent business man and native of Berkeley county, and took an active part in political affairs, representing his county several terms in the house of delegates, and at the time of his death, holding the office of clerk of the county and circuit courts. His mother, who was a woman of great force of character, was of Scotch-Irish descent and a daughter of John C. Green, a distinguished physician, who married Eliza Campbell, of the well-known Scotch-Irish family of that name, of the Shenandoah valley. In his childhood Governor O'Ferrall manifested the active habits of mind and body that have characterized his career, and in early manhood he was distinguished for manly bearing and superb horsemanship, as well as a remarkable aptitude for business and public affairs. In 1856, at the age of fifteen, he was appointed clerk pro tempore upon the death of his father, and two years later was elected by the people for a term of six years. Long before this official trust had expired, Virginia summoned her brave sons to arms for the defense of the commonwealth, and young O'Ferrall, in the face of a strong Union sentiment in his county, and though exempted from military duty, promptly abandoned his official position and enlisted as a private in the cavalry service. He was soon promoted sergeant, and then lieutenant and then captain of Company I of the Twelfth Virginia cavalry, Ashby's famous brigade. He participated in the operations of this command during a considerable part of the war, and was in the battles or engagements of Kernstown, McDowell, Middletown, Mount Jackson, Harrisonburg, Cross Keys, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, Catlett Station, Groveton, Second Bull Run, Poolesville, Brandy Station and Upperville, as well as innumerable fierce skirmishes. At Poolesville he was wounded in the right arm and shoulder in a saber fight, and at Upperville he was shot through the left lung, while rallying his squadron under a heavy fire of the enemy, and left for some time on the field for dead, and his death was announced in the papers of the State. In the fall of 1863 he was made a major and soon a lieutenant-colonel in the Twenty-third Virginia cavalry and took part in the operations in the Shenandoah valley during 1864 and the spring of 1865, participating in the battles of Charlestown, New Market, Piedmont, Lynchburg, Monocacy, the attack on Forts Stedman and Reno, Opequon Creek and Fisher's Hill, in which last named battle he was seriously wounded in the right knee. In April, 1865, he was