Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/824

776 court of his county. He was born January 16, 1843, in Hanover county, of which his father, Peter W. Brown, a well-known teacher, was also a native. His mother, Sarah E., was a daughter of Capt. Jesse Winn. He was reared upon the farm in his native county, and at the outbreak of war in 1861, was a student in the Meadow Farm academy. On April i, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, or Hanover Troop, of the Fourth Virginia cavalry, Col. Williams C. Wickham commanding. With this gallant regiment he served throughout the war, except when detailed as a courier for General Wickham, for a long time in command of the brigade which included the regiment. It would be impracticable to attempt a list of the many engagements in which he participated with his trooper comrades, but notable among those in which he played a part were the Seven Days' battles, Boonsboro, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Yellow Tavern, Five Forks and Appomattox. Cutting his way through the Federal lines at the latter place, he surrendered at Richmond ten days after the capitulation of General Lee. During the first ten years following the war Mr. Brown was engaged with his uncle. Col. William R. Winn, of Ashland, farmer, lumberman and lawyer, and for several terms a member of the Virginia legislature. As clerk of the circuit court he has been honored with re-election three times, which amply demonstrates his popularity and efficiency as a public servant. He maintains a membership in W. B. Newton camp, Confederate Veterans, and is highly regarded by his comrades as a brave soldier and unpretentious citizen. Mr. Brown was married October 23, 1879, to Bettie Deane, daughter of Nathaniel August, who died in 1895, leaving two children; Sallie Russell and Jessie Deane.

Joseph B. Brown, of Hanover county, Va., entered the service of the Confederacy as a member of the Hanover Dragoons, commanded by Capt. Williams C. Wickham. The company was assigned to the Fourth cavalry regiment, Fitzhugh Lee's brigade, and Captain Wickham became colonel, and after Fitz Lee's promotion, brigadier-general commanding the brigade. Private Brown served with this gallant command throughout the war, participating in many famous battles and daring cavalry raids, and was wounded at the battle of Kelly's Ford, losing a portion of his right hand. By his marriage to Fannie L. Taylor he had three children, one of whom, John D. G. Brown, is now prominent in the legal profession of Newport News. The latter was born in Hanover county, June 16, 1868, was graduated in law at the university of Virginia, and after teaching school for a time, embarked in the practice of his profession at Newport News in 1893. In 1896 he was elected to the office of police justice. On October 4, 1896, he was married to Nellie G. Allen, of New Jersey.

John Greener Brown, now a prominent business man of Wytheville, Va., did faithful service with the Confederate forces in east Tennessee and the Shenandoah valley during the great war. He is a native of Wythe county, born in September, 1845. When about eighteen years of age he enlisted in the cavalry company of Capt. R. H. Gleaves, and soon afterward went into east Tennessee in the command of Gen. John S. Williams. General Williams advanced through Greeneville to make a diversion in co-operation with the contemplated attack upon the Federals at Cumberland