Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1315

Rh period he was detailed from the line in the position of acting judge advocate-general for the First corps of the army of Northern Virginia. Subsequently he resumed the practice of law at Fredericksburg and in 1870 he was elected commonwealth attorney for both the city and the county of Spottsylvania. This position he held by successive re-elections until he tired of the service and resigned in 1881 and 1882. In 1886 he retired from the profession in which he had won honors, and traveled for some time in foreign lands. After his return he was elected a director of the National bank of Fredericksburg, in 1888, and upon the death of his brother, Charles Wallace, president of the institution, in October, 1893, he was chosen as his successor. Captain Wallace is also president of the Fredericksburg aqueduct company. In these and various other lines of activity he is conspicuous in the business and social life of the city.

George W. Wallace, of Berkley, one of the charter members and past commander of Neimeyer-Shaw camp, United Confederate Veterans, of that city, was born at Glencoe, Norfolk county, November 17, 1845. He is a son of the marriage of George T. Wallace and Elizabeth Curtis, his father being a native of Norfolk county and a farmer by occupation. After receiving a preparatory education at his home town, he entered the university of North Carolina, where he was still a student when the war broke out, and remained until early in 1863. He then, being in his eighteenth year, left his studies to participate in the military service of the Confederate States. He joined that adventurous and faithful band of intelligent and patriotic men known as the signal corps, becoming one of the youngest of the Second company under command of Capt. Eugene G. Dejarmette. The entire corps was composed of carefully selected men from all the military organizations collected about Norfolk in 1861-62, and under the command of Maj. James F. Milligan, rendered efficient service along the James and Appomattox rivers until the fall of Richmond in 1865. Two chains of posts were established, from Bermuda Hundred to Petersburg, and up the James river to Drewry's bluff, where a telegraph system connected with Richmond. In this duty Mr. Wallace was naturally not called upon to participate in battle, but on one occasion, in 1864, he took part in a fight at Jones' Farm, on the James river, opposite Jamestown island. His service closed at Appomattox, where he surrendered with the army. Then he returned to civil life with his signal corps comrades, several of whom have since attained notable distinction, among them J. Hoge Tyler, governor of Virginia, Judge John Dew, Dr. Harvey Dew and Judge John Welch. After Dr. Wallace's return to his home at Glencoe, he took up the study of medicine, and entered the university of Virginia for professional study, where he was graduated as doctor of medicine in June, 1867. He then located for practice of medicine at Camden, N. C., and after something over a year at that place, he followed the profession for a short time at Deep Creek, Va., until he was compelled by ill health to abandon the active practice. Removing to Berkley, Va., he embarked in the business of a pharmacist and druggist, in which he has since continued with remarkable success, now conducting one of the best-appointed establishments of this kind in Norfolk county.