Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/964

900 Poplar Springs Church, Stony Creek, Cabin Point, Blacks and Whites, and other fights on Wilson's and Kautz' raids. Hatcher's Run, etc. He was several times detailed on important duty. In the early part of 1865 he was sent in charge of a detail to eastern North Carolina on a reconnoissance on the Chowan river, and with orders to break up a marauding band of deserters from both armies who had their headquarters on Flax island. At the close of the war Lieutenant Gordon found that his father, annoyed by Federal raiders and the loss of his slaves, had sold his plantation and invested all his wealth in Confederate bonds. Thus, at the age of eighteen, being the oldest son of a penniless family, he heroically devoted himself to their support by farming rented land. His labors were effective, and, at the age of twenty-one, he was able to leave the family in some comfort and accept an instructorship in St. John's school, Wilmington. Here and at Frederick college, Maryland, he taught until, in 1871, he returned to Wilmington, and engaged in the business of fire insurance, in which he has since been notably successful, being now general agent for several states of the Hamburg-Bremen and United States fire insurance companies, with headquarters at Richmond, Va. In 1876 he enlisted as a private in the Wilmington light infantry and subsequently became captain of the Whiting Rifles, from which he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the Second regiment North Carolina State guard. Since 1879 he has resided at Richmond, Va., and has become identified with the city's best interests. In 1877 he was married to Miss Annie Pender, of Tarboro, N. C., a niece of Gen. W. D. Pender.

Lieutenant Mason Gordon, of Charlottesville, Va., was born in Albemarle county in 1840 and, at the beginning of hostilities between the North and South, left home as a private in the Albemarle Light Horse, a gallant cavalry organization which was afterward known as Company K of the Second Virginia cavalry, General Munford's old regiment. He served with his troop at the first battle of Manassas, with Ashby and Jackson through the Shenandoah valley campaign of 1862, and Second Manassas, the frequent skirmishes through Maryland and the battle of Sharpsburg. After the latter battle he was detached from his regiment and ordered to report to General Robertson in the department of Virginia and North Carolina, with whom he served as second lieutenant. At a later date he was attached to the command of General Whiting, at Wilmington, where he remained until that city was evacuated early in 1865. Then, joining the army under J. E. Johnston, he participated in the battle of Bentonville in March. He was a gallant soldier and an intelligent and faithful officer.

William A. Gordon, of Washington, D. C., who rendered effective service to the Confederacy in the engineer department of the army of Northern Virginia, and since the war has been a prominent attorney and financier of the National capital, was born in the District of Columbia in 1841. His father, William A. Gordon, was a native of Baltimore, was educated at the United States military academy at West Point, and from about 1824 to 1874 held the position of chief clerk of the quartermaster-general's office at Washington. His maternal grandfather. Dr. James H. Blake, was elected mayor of Washington in 1812, and was the intimate friend of President Madison. He was educated at the Columbian