Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/814

756 until he was captured in 1863, near Blackwater river, while returning from a furlough. Being held at Point Lookout and afterward at Johnson's island, he scorned to obtain his liberty by abandoning his convictions, and being so unfortunate as not to be exchanged, remained a prisoner of war until after the surrender. He then engaged in business at Norfolk, and so continued until his death in 1869. John R. served faithfully in Captain Barham's company of cavalry throughout the war, and afterward engaging in farming, died at his home in Nansemond county about 1883. Admiral Brinkley, a younger son, now a prominent wholesale merchant of Norfolk, was born near Suffolk, March 8, 1850, and has taken a prominent part in the upbuilding of the Old Dominion since the war. Educated in a log schoolhouse, he entered business life with his brother, Hugh G., at the age of seventeen. In 1871 he became a retail grocer on his own account, in Portsmouth, and ten years afterward developed into the wholesale trade. In 1882 he became a member of a prominent wholesale firm of Norfolk, in a few years becoming the head of the house. He was married in 1871 to Fannie Fern Daughtrey, who died about three years later. His present wife is Laura O., daughter of Bassett and Elizabeth (Grimes) Warren, and niece of Capt. Gary Grimes, the gallant artillery commander.

James Peyton Britton, a gallant North Carolina soldier, was born in 1842, in Hertford county, N. C. Losing his parents before reaching the age of ten years, he found employment in young manhood as the overseer of a farm in Bertie county. In the spring of 1861 he volunteered as a private in the company of Capt. Thomas M. Garrett, Fifth North Carolina infantry, Iverson's brigade, Rodes' division. He participated in the battle of Seven Pines, the Seven Days' battles before Richmond, Cedar Run, Second Manassas, South Mountain, Harper's Ferry, Culpeper Court House, Gettysburg, Williamsport, and other famous engagements, in all twenty-seven encounters with the enemy. At South Mountain he received a wound in the chin which kept him in hospital at Petersburg for two or three months, and on returning to his command he was promoted orderly-sergeant. In the bloody fighting of the first day at Gettysburg, in which his regiment was almost annihilated, after his company was mowed down by the storm of grape and canister, Sergeant Britton wrapped the tattered battle flag around his arm and carried it from the field. He was with "Bob" Lee to the end at Appomattox, and then returned to his native State, and in 1867 was married to Miss Annie E. Lessoms. In 1890 he removed to Arkansas, but retired from farm life in 1897 and made his home at Oakdale, Norfolk county.

Joseph Edward Britton, oldest son of the foregoing, was born in North Carolina in 1869, and was reared and educated in that State. At the age of twenty-one years he entered the Norfolk business college, and after graduation found employment as a clerk at Portsmouth. Subsequently he purchased the business and continued it until 1894, when he removed to Norfolk, and established a wholesale and commission house. He is interested in various enterprises of importance, and in real estate, and has manifested a remarkable tact and skill in business which promise unqualified success. He is popular socially, maintains membership in several fraternal orders, and is a trustee and clerk of the South Norfolk