Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/736

680 with that party, and has since been a Republican in principle and affiliation. He was elected to Congress from the Ninth district of Virginia by the Republicans in 1894, and was re-elected in 1896. In July, 1898, he was a third time nominated. In the official records of the civil war, published by the government, General Walker's name, coupled with honorable mention for gallant conduct or faithful services, occurs a number of times in the reports of Confederate officers. One interesting fact connected with him is this, that he is the only officer who ever commanded the Stonewall brigade who survived the war. All of the others, Generals Jackson, Winder, Garnett and Paxton, were killed in battle. Colonels Allen, Botts and Baylor, while temporarily in command of the Stonewall brigade, also fell at the head of their troops. As the sole surviving commander of this famous brigade, General Walker has been an object of much interest in the North and West, and in the last ten years has been a number of times invited to make addresses on commanders of the civil war and kindred subjects, in the cities of those sections. He has in this way been one of those ex-Confederate officers who have had much to do with the present era of good feeling between the sections. Like Wheeler and Lee and others, he has long been broad-minded enough to see that loyalty to the "lost cause" is entirely consistent with loyalty to the government under which he lives and from which he claims protection.

Brigadier-General Reuben Lindsay Walker was born at Logan, Albemarle county, Va., May 29, 1827. His father was Capt. Lewis Walker, and his early home was in a part of the State noted for wealth and refinement, the prominent families of which were connected with his by blood and affinity. He was graduated in 1845 at the Virginia military institute, where his popularity among his fellow cadets is one of the pleasant traditions of the school. After graduation he adopted the profession of civil engineer, and became employed upon the extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad. In 1857 he married a daughter of Dr. Albert Elam, of Chesterfield county, and a few years later engaged in farming in New Kent county. He was sergeant-at-arms of the memorable Virginia convention of 1861, and immediately after the