Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/939

Rh he abandoned the ordinary occupations of youth to begin a varied and adventurous career in the Confederate service. His enlistment was as a private in the Sixth Virginia cavalry, with which command he participated in many famous engagements and others equally dangerous, which go to make up the career of a trooper among which may be enumerated Bealton Station, Front Royal, Winchester, Newtown, Woodstock, Harrisonburg, Cross Keys and Port Republic, in all of which he served under the command of the invincible Stonewall Jackson. He also participated in the actions at Slaughter mountain, the second Manassas, the raid on Catlett's Station, at Brandy Station (August 19, 1862), the fight with General Prince's cavalry at Upperville, the affair at Brandy Station, on June 9, 1863, and the subsequent engagements of Stuart's cavalry up to June 23. On July 12, 1863, while participating in Stuart's movements on the return from Pennsylvania he was captured at Hagerstown, Md., by the enemy, and sent to Baltimore, and afterward to Point Lookout military prison, where he was held in all nine months. Upon his exchange, in May, 1864, he rejoined his cavalry command and, after fighting at Reams' station against Sheridan, was sent to the Shenandoah valley, and participated in the battles of Luray, Winchester, and Tom's Brook, where, on October 8, 1864, he received a severe gunshot wound in the neck which disabled him for a month. On his recovery, in the latter part of November, 1864, he went from the cavalry to the artillery and participated as a member of the Third company of Richmond Howitzers in the fighting at Deatonsville, Va., and at Appomattox, where he was paroled. Returning home, he became at once as active in the pursuits of peace as he had been in the service of the Confederacy. First turning his hand to the raising of a crop of corn, he next, in the fall of 1865, found a position as clerk in a store at Lynchburg. In January, 1866, he came again to his home in Halifax county and, beginning the study of law with his father, was admitted to practice in the following year and then embarked in that profession at Danville. After practice as an attorney for three years he was elected, in 1870, to the position of corporation judge of Danville. Elected to a second term in 1877, he resigned in the following year to resume the practice, and, in the fall of 1881 removed to Washington county, where he continued successfully in the duties of his profession. His ability as a lawyer and wide influence as a public man led to his election in December, 1883, to the position of secretary of the commonwealth, a position in which he was retained for five terms by the voters of the State, serving continuously until 1893. Subsequently he has remained at Richmond and engaged in that professional work for which his long experience has admirably equipped him. He is still a comrade to the survivors of the army and maintains memberships in R. E. Lee camp and the Howitzer association, which he served as president in 1885.

Captain Nicholas Jackson Floyd, of Lynchburg, Va., at the close of the war commanding the post at Minden, La., was born in Campbell county, Va., December 11, 1828. He was educated at the private schools of Lynchburg, the Abingdon academy and Emory and Henry college, Virginia. After spending several years in travel, he engaged in planting in Texas and later in Alabama. At