Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/942

878 than those pertaining to private business, he serves as trustee of the Miller orphan asylum, has been in the city council ten or twelve years, and has served sixteen years or more upon the school board, of which he is now chairman, and is one of the board of governors of the Lynchburg public library. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order. Major Franklin was married, in 1861, to a daughter of Colonel Bennett, and seven children were born to them. His wife died in 1876 and he was married in 1880 to Mrs. Neal.

Captain James Franklin, Jr., of Lynchburg, Va., was born in Pittsylvania county in 1839, at the plantation home of his family, where he was reared and educated. Losing his father by death in 1855, he made his home at Lynchburg in the following year. In 1859 he became a member of the Home Guards, organized November 8th, and with that famous organization was mustered into the service of the State on April 24, 1861, as Company G of the Eleventh Virginia infantry, and went to join the army of Beauregard upon the plains of Manassas. His gallant service was rewarded by steady promotion, on May 7, 1861, to corporal; in July, 1861, to sergeant; in April, 1862, to orderly-sergeant; and in October, 1862, to second lieutenant of Company G. He served in the latter rank until March, 1863, when he accepted the position of quartermaster of the Eleventh regiment, with the rank of captain, as which he continued until April, 1864, when he resigned from that rank and duty to take his old place with the company as second lieutenant. After participating in the heroic fighting and the glorious victory at Manassas, July 21, 1861, he was transferred with his command to Richmond, to oppose the advance of McClellan. On May 5th he was engaged in the battle of Williamsburg, and here received a severe wound in the left arm, which has disabled him for life. Notwithstanding this injury, he persisted in the struggle, afterward participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Va., Plymouth, N. C., and Drewry's Bluff, in April, 1864, when he was again wounded, this time in the breast, increasing his disabilities to such an extent that he was forced to accept an honorable discharge and retire from the active service. Returning to Lynchburg, he surrendered there in June, 1865, and then turned his energies to the affairs of civil life. In 1866 he and his brother Jacob formed a partnership in the grocery business, under the firm name of Franklin Bros. During the years that have since elapsed he has been an honored and influential citizen of Lynchburg, sat in the city council in 1874 and 1875, and for four years, beginning in 1876, served as magistrate. Captain Franklin's family contributed nobly to the army of the Confederate States, five of his brothers enlisting. John A. Franklin, of Bogata, Tex., served in General Price's army and ranked as major at the surrender; William E. Franklin was a private in the Second Virginia cavalry, Company I, and died in service from disease; Jacob H. Franklin, now living at Lynchburg, who went out in the Eleventh Virginia infantry and ranked as major in General Longstreet's corps; Thomas C. Franklin, who served throughout the war as a private in the Second Virginia cavalry and died at Lynchburg in 1871, at the time holding the office of city sergeant; Charles C. Franklin, who enlisted in Company C, Forty-second Virginia infantry, and was first lieutenant when killed at Chancellorsville in