Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1373

Rh the military history of Virginia as commander of the Eighteenth Virginia infantry, was born in Campbell county, September 18, 1821. In 1861 his home was at Danville, where he entered the Confederate service as major of a battalion composed of the Danville Blues and Danville Grays, two gallant volunteer companies. When he joined Beauregard's army he was appointed colonel of the Eighteenth Virginia infantry regiment and assigned to Cocke's brigade. He was first stationed with his regiment at Fairfax Court House, then fell back to Bull Run, and on the morning of July 2ist was stationed on the Federal side of the run, at Ball's Ford. Thence he moved his command to the left to meet the Federal flank attack, and joining in a gallant charge, his men captured a battery of the enemy and turned it against the foe, contributing in no slight degree to the great victory. He went into the battle of Gainesville, July, 1862, in the brigade of General Pickett, which made a direct assault upon the enemy's works, and while leading his regiment in the attack he fell severely wounded by a shot through the lungs. General Longstreet, who wrote in his official report that "there was more individual gallantry displayed upon this field than any I have ever seen," mentioned Colonel Withers as "conspicuous among the gallant officers." The wound he received prevented further service in the field. He was assigned to the invalid corps, and put in charge of the post at Danville, where he remained until the close of the war. He then edited the Lynchburg Daily News until he was nominated for governor of Virginia by the conservative party. He made a canvass of the State, advocating the defeat of the Underwood constitution. Later it was decided to withdraw the ticket which he headed in favor of the one led by Gilbert C. Walker, which was elected. Through the efforts of the party which he led in this fight, the objectionable features of the proposed constitution were eliminated before adoption. At the next State election he was chosen lieutenant-governor, and by the succeeding legislature was elected United States senator. In that position he served from 1875 to 1881. During the first administration of President Cleveland he was consul for the United States at Hong Kong. Senator Withers was married February 3, 1876, to Miss Mary Virginia Byrd.

Captain Henry Wood, a prominent attorney of Mecklenburg county, is a native of that county, born in 1844, the son of Henry Wood, a well-known attorney and representative of Amelia county in the State legislature. He was educated at the Virginia military institute, which he left at the age of seventeen years to enter the Confederate service. He assisted in the organization and was elected second lieutenant of a company which was mustered in in August, 1861, and attached to the Second North Carolina battalion, and at the reorganization in 1862 was transferred and designated as Company G of the Fifty-ninth Virginia regiment, brigade of General Wise, Wood then being elected captain. His first year's service was rendered on the peninsula. Under General Wise he took part in the battle of Roanoke Island, February 8, 1862 was captured, and was not exchanged until August, 1862, after which he was on duty at Charleston, S. C., and in Florida, under General Beauregard, until March, 1864, when his regiment was called northward for the defense of Petersburg. He fought against Bugler at Drewry's Bluff, and during the subsequent siege