Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/670

622 college, and then entered the profession of the law. With the earliest volunteers for the defense of the State he went to the front as second lieutenant of the Second Virginia regiment. Soon promoted first lieutenant, he was appointed aide-de-camp on the staff of Stonewall Jackson, of whose brigade the Second formed a part at First Manassas. Of the Thirty-third regiment, same brigade, he was promoted major, and later lieutenant-colonel; and in this rank he participated in the Valley campaign of 1862, and the subsequent operations of that year. At Fredericksburg, having been promoted colonel, he commanded his regiment. Early in 1863, on account of ill health, he retired from the service, but in the fall of the same year he returned to active duty and in June, 1864, was assigned to temporary command at Staunton, Va., with orders to do all in his power to organize the local forces and aid in the defense of the Valley. But the Confederates met with a serious reverse at that point immediately afterward; Gen. W. E. Jones was killed, and Staunton was occupied by the Federals. On September 20, 1864, Colonel Lee was promoted brigadier-general, and he was subsequently sent to Canada on secret service for the government. After the war his ill health compelled him to spend the winters in the far South. He died at Yellow Sulphur Springs, Va., August 24, 1870.

Major-General Fitzhugh Lee was born at Clermont, Fairfax county, Va., November 19, 1835. He is the son of Sydney Smith Lee, who was a brother of Robert E. Lee, and son of Gen. and Gov. Henry Lee. Sydney Smith Lee had a distinguished naval career for over forty years, beginning as a midshipman when fourteen years of age. He commanded a vessel at Vera Cruz, was three years commandant at Annapolis, and for the same period in charge of the Philadelphia navy yard; commanded Commodore Perry's flagship in the Japan expedition, and when the first Japanese embassadors came to America, he was associated with Farragut and D. D. Porter in a committee for their reception and entertainment. He resigned his position as chief of the bureau of coast survey to join the Confederacy, and was on duty at Norfolk; in command of fortifications at Drewry's bluff; chief of the bureau of orders and detail,