Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/871

Rh of cavalry, afterward enrolled as the Eleventh regiment of cavalry, with the rank of lieutenant and adjutant of the regiment. Subsequently he was promoted captain and assigned to duty as assistant inspector-general of Rosser's brigade. In October, 1864, he was again promoted, on the field, to the rank of major, and assistant inspector-general for the cavalry division under command of Maj.-Gen. Thomas L. Rosser. In this rank he served at Five Forks and during the subsequent retreat from Richmond, and surrendered after the main body of the army had capitulated at Appomattox. Returning to his home Major Conrad immediately turned his attention to the study of law, and in January, 1866, was admitted to the bar. He speedily became prominent professionally and also took an active and laudable part in the political affairs of his county and the State. In 1881-82 he served in the Virginia legislature, in 1892 was a successful candidate for elector-at-large on the National ticket, and in June, 1893, received from President Cleveland the appointment of assistant attorney-general of the United States. His efficient service in this position made highly appropriate the promotion which followed in February, 1895, to the office of solicitor-general.

Lieutenant Joseph Cooper, of Fairfax, Va., a veteran of the Eighth Virginia infantry, was born at Alexandria, September 7, 1824. In his youth his home was removed to Fairfax county, where he enlisted as a private in 1861, on the first call of the State, in Company G of the Eighth regiment. His meritorious service was rewarded in the following October by promotion to sergeant, and at the reorganization, in 1862, he was made second lieutenant. After the battle of Gettysburg, where he participated in the world-famous charge of Pickett's division, and fell, shot through the shoulder by a musket ball, he was promoted, while in hospital at Staunton, to the rank of first lieutenant. In this grade he served when he returned to the field in December, 1863, until near the close of the war, when, in March, 1865, at the engagement of Gravelly Run, he was again wounded in the mouth and jaw. On the way to hospital from this battlefield he was captured and confined at Petersburg, then at the Old Capitol prison, and subsequently at Johnson's island until June 24, 1865, when he was released. Then returning to his home in Fairfax county, he resumed the manufacture of carriages and wagons, in which he had been engaged previous to the war. In this branch of trade he has continued during the period of peace which has followed the exciting events of 1861-65, prospering in his business, and earning the good-will and respect of the community by the same admirable traits of manhood which rendered him a valuable Confederate soldier. He is an honored member of the Masonic fraternity, and is one of the most faithful comrades of Marr camp of Confederate Veterans, holding the position of adjutant. On January 1, 1867, he was married to Susanna V. Steele, of Fairfax, and they have one daughter living.

Robert Wilson, of Virginia, was a gallant soldier in the Confederate States army, serving in Captain Doyle's company of Virginia volunteers. A number of other members of the Wilson family were in the service, and proved their devotion to the South in many hotly-contested battles. Albert W. Cornick, a prominent business man