Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/784

728 disaster. After gallant participation in the desperate fight made by the Confederate troops, he joined in the surrender to superior numbers, and was subsequently held as a prisoner of war at Point Lookout until June 23, 1865. He engaged in the management of extensive farms along the James river until 1882, when he made his home at Newport News, where he has taken an active part in the advancement of the interests of the city. He has been notably successful in his civil pursuits, and is now in comfortable circumstances, as a good Confederate soldier deserves. He has served one term as registrar of the Newport News magisterial district. In Magruder camp, United Confederate Veterans, he is an active member and holds the rank of first lieutenant. He was married in 1876 and four daughters adorn his home.

Spottswood Bird, a native of the Old Dominion, though only eighteen years of age when the army of Northern Virginia stacked arms at Appomattox, had seen service in the Confederate cause, and performed the duties of a soldier in camp and field. He was born in King and Queen county, Va., in 1847, where he passed the years of childhood and youth, receiving his education in the county schools and in the local academy until the outbreak of the war, which interrupted the preparation of so many of the youth of Virginia for the pursuits of civil life. Early in 1863, being sixteen years of age, and anxious to serve his State, he joined an organization of home guards, and performed such duties as were assigned him in this connection until the fall of 1864, when he enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Virginia cavalry, as a private in Company F. His regiment was part of the brigade of Gen. M. W. Gary, of South Carolina, and participated in the fights with General Butler's army, north of the James river, and in other and continuous skirmishes about Richmond. When the city was evacuated, and the army had mainly crossed the James, the last bridge left was Mayo's bridge at the foot of Fourteenth street. This was guarded all the night of the 2d of April, while Richmond and Manchester were brilliant as day, the river between flashed in the glare of burning buildings, and the earth quaked with the terrific explosions of the military magazines. Just at break of day Gary's cavalry came up, the last of the army to cross the river, while about them the Federal lines were plainly seen in motion. As Gary's rear guard rode over, this last bridge was burned, and the cavalry hastened to join the westward movement of Lee's army, which terminated at Appomattox Court House. On the morning of the 9th of April, 1865, Gary's cavalry brigade occupied the advance skirmish line on the hills of Appomattox, dismounted and fighting as infantry until the last imperative order came to cease firing, after the flag of truce had passed directly through their line. Here the war experience of Mr. Bird and his comrades ended, and he returned home, and gave his attention to the pursuits of civil life. He remained in his native county until 1891, meanwhile establishing a business at the county seat, King and Queen Court House, with which he is still connected. In 1891 he removed to Baltimore, where he is occupied as treasurer of the Ryland-Brooks lumber company. Mr. Bird's ancestry is identified with the history of Virginia for many years back. His maternal great-grandfather, Captain Roy, served with credit in the war of the Revolution.

Major Henry Lawson Biscoe, since the war engaged in business