Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/710

658 Jones. On the last day of the Gettysburg battle his command fought a cavalry battle near Fairfield, and during the retreat was engaged in repeated skirmishes, particularly at Funkstown and Hagerstown. After the return to Virginia, his two regiments having been reduced to 300 men, he asked to be transferred to another field, and was assigned in October to the command of the Second district of South Carolina. In this field he remained, with enlarged command, during the remainder of the war, defeating the Federal attempt to possess John's island in July, 1864, commanding the cavalry forces which covered the retreat of Hardee from Charleston, and participating in several engagements with Sherman's troops. General Robertson is now engaged in the insurance business at Washington, D. C.

Major-General Thomas Lafayette Rosser was born upon a farm in Campbell county, Va., October 15, 1836, the son of John and Martha M. (Johnson) Rosser. The family removed from Virginia to Texas in 1849, and from that State Rosser was appointed to the United States military academy in 1856. The course of study being then five years, he was in the graduating class when it was ordered into the field by President Lincoln. He immediately resigned, and proceeding to Montgomery was commissioned first lieutenant in the regular army of the Confederate States. Being assigned as instructor to the Washington artillery of New Orleans, he commanded the Second company of that organization at the battles of Blackburn's Ford and Manassas in July, 1861, and with Stuart at Munson's hill and the battle of Lewinsville. His success in shooting down McClellan's observation balloon won him promotion to captain, and in this rank he commanded his battery in the defense of Yorktown and on the retreat up the peninsula. At the battle of Mechanicsville he was severely wounded, and was soon promoted to lieutenant-colonel of artillery, and a few days later to colonel of the Fifth Virginia regiment of cavalry. Thus began his career as a cavalryman, in which he won great distinction as a dashing, intrepid and skillful officer. He commanded the advance of Stuart's expedition to Catlett's Station, in the campaign against Pope, and captured the latter's orderly and horses; in the fight at Groveton, Va., August 28, 1862, commanded