Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/928

868 F of the Ninth Alabama regiment of infantry. The command was soon called to Virginia, where his regiment made the forced march from Winchester to the first battle of Manassas. He, with his regiment, was in the siege of Yorktown. Just after the Seven Days' battles before Richmond, where his regiment participated in the Fourth brigade of Longstreet's division, under the immediate command of Brig.-Gen. Richard H. Anderson, he was promoted captain of Company F. With this rank he served throughout the remainder of the war, frequently acting as field officer of his regiment, for some time as assistant adjutant-general of the brigade and for a considerable period on the staff of General Anderson as provost marshal of his division. His record was a most honorable and gallant one, embracing participation in the battles of First Manassas, Williamsburg (at that time being adjutant of his regiment), Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (where he was severely wounded), Bristoe Station, the defense of Petersburg, including the battle of the Crater. He was a second time wounded, but fortunately only slightly, while serving before Petersburg. His military career ended with his parole at Decatur, Ala., in May, 1865, which he still has in his possession. While the war was still in progress he was married, at Lynchburg, Va., in January, 1864, to Miss Letitia Preston Floyd, daughter of the late Dr. N. W. Floyd, of that city, and, after the close of hostilities, he made his home in the Old Dominion, where he is held in high esteem. During both the administrations of President Cleveland he held the position of agricultural statistician for the State of Virginia, and is at this time a member of the Virginia legislature.

Lieutenant George B. Finch, president of the Bank of Mecklenburg, Boydton, Va., is a native of that county, and was educated at Randolph-Macon college, receiving the degree of A. M. in 1860. He entered the Confederate service as a private in Company E, Fourteenth Virginia regiment, in May, 1861, and was promoted to lieutenant early in 1862. He was first under the command of General Magruder, on the peninsula, and was for some time stationed on Jamestown island. In the fall of 1861 he was disabled by an attack of typhoid fever, but was able to rejoin his regiment, then a part of Armistead's brigade, in winter quarters at Suffolk. Subsequently he participated in the battles of Seven Pines, Second Manassas, Harper's Ferry, Fredericksburg, and in the spring of 1863 served with Longstreet's command in the siege of Suffolk. At the battle of Gettysburg he commanded his company, and went with them up the slope of Cemetery hill, in the famous charge of Pickett's division, and fell within a short distance of the stone wall with a severe wound in the hip. He crawled to a pile of rails for shelter and, under the screen of night, managed to regain the Confederate lines. After experiencing great suffering he reached the hospital at Richmond, only to experience another attack of typhoid fever, which prevented him from getting home for several months. His gallantry at Gettysburg received the honorable mention of his superior officers and he was offered promotion to captain, in case he could return to the active service, but this the nature of his wound prevented. He was compelled to use crutches until 1868, when the minie ball which caused his wound