Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/812

754 Richmond defenses, in which capacity he served for one year. Then, desiring more active service, he opened a recruiting camp near Richmond, supplying men for the cavalry command of Maj. Harry Gilmor, of Maryland. Subsequently he was made captain of a company in this battalion, and served under Gilmor in the valley and in the Pennsylvania raid until the affair at Moorefield, W. Va., in 1864, when he was among those captured by the enemy. He suffered nine months' imprisonment at Camp Chase, Ohio, and was then sent to Richmond, but before he could rejoin his command, the war had ceased. The list of engagements in which he participated includes the following: First Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, the Seven Days' fighting before Richmond, Chambersburg and New Creek. Captain Brewer was paroled at Lynchburg in May, 1865, and then returned to Washington. Not long after his return he was appointed city engineer of Georgetown, in which position he served for several years with general satisfaction. Subsequently he performed similar duties under the board of public works, and for three years was in the service of the United States government in the work of gauging rivers. Since then he has been engaged in the general duties of his profession. Captain Brewer was married in 1892 to Florine A., daughter of Rev. Dr. Wellons, of Suffolk, Va.

William M. Bridges was born in Richmond, Va., May 5, 1835, and was educated in the schools of Richmond and at Emory and Henry college, Va. He removed to New Orleans, La., in 1857, and was there when the military organizations began to be formed for the defense of the Confederacy. He was among the New Orleans troops at the surrender of Baton Rouge arsenal to Gen. Braxton Bragg; and was a non-commissioned officer in the Crescent Rifles, Bradford's battalion, which early volunteered to reinforce General Bragg at Pensacola, Fla. The Rifles became a part of Major Bradford's battalion of Louisiana troops, but Mr. Bridges' service with the command was limited to about three weeks, he then receiving a commission from Governor Moore as second lieutenant in the first regiment of Louisiana artillery, his commission being in the regular army, and his regiment being one of the eight regiments of regulars in the Confederate States army. He served at Fort Jackson, below New Orleans, until the surrender of the Mississippi defenses in that quarter, a period of eleven months. Upon his exchange he was detached from his regiment by order of the secretary of war and assigned to the staff of Gen. Johnson K. Duncan. He reported to him at Chattanooga, Tenn., and served on his staff throughout Bragg's Kentucky campaign. Upon Duncan's death at Knoxville, Tenn., in December, 1862, Lieutenant Bridges was transferred to the staff of General Bragg, in command of the army of the Mississippi. In this capacity he participated in the battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn. In January, 1863, he rejoined his regiment at Vicksburg, which place the Federal army was attempting to invest, and was assigned to the staff of Brig.-Gen. Edward Higgins, in command of the river front, as inspector of the river batteries. In this important position he served during the remainder of the siege of Vicksburg, and until the capitulation to Grant in July. He was paroled with the remainder of the army and observed the parole until he was declared exchanged in the following September. He was then