Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/986

920 the battle of McDowell. In July, 1863, he enlisted in Company B of the Sixty-eighth North Carolina regiment of infantry. On January 1, 1864, he was elected first lieutenant, and, on August 7th following, was elected captain, the rank in which he served during the remainder of the war. With his command he participated in the engagements at Greasy Cove, Tenn., Wise's Forks, Butler's Bridge, Williamston, Hamilton, Plymouth, Kinston, N. C., and the final battle at Bentonville, where he was wounded in the right foot, an injury which disabled him for two months. He acted as assistant adjutant-general for over two months of his service. Since the close of hostilities he has resided upon his farm, "Indian Grove," and has devoted himself entirely to its culture and improvement. He is widely known as a successful planter, and a hospitable and public-spirited gentleman. As a director of the Indian river and Campostella turnpike companies he has materially aided in the success of those desirable enterprises.

George N. Halstead, M. D., of Norfolk county, Va., gave the Confederate States army his service, in professional and other capacities, during the entire war of 1861-65. He was born in Norfolk county, April 17, 1840, the son of William N. and Elizabeth (Murray) Halstead. The father was a native of Norfolk county, the mother, of Princess Anne. He was reared upon the home farm, which had long been in the hands of his ancestors, and was given an academic education and some knowledge of military affairs at the Virginia collegiate institute at Portsmouth. In 1859 and 1860 he continued his studies at the university of Pennsylvania, devoting the latter year to the study of medicine, which he subsequently completed in the Richmond medical college. April 17, 1861, signalized by the passage of the ordinance of secession by the Virginia convention, was his twenty-first birthday, and his first vote was cast to approve of that action. On April 19th, he entered the Confederate service as a member of Company I of the Fifteenth Virginia cavalry regiment, but was almost immediately afterward detached from that command and appointed medical officer of the Third Georgia regiment of infantry. A few months later he was assigned to duty as medical officer with the naval battery at Fort Boykin, on the James river, where he remained until the evacuation of Norfolk. He then rejoined the Fifteenth cavalry and served with it during the campaign of 1862. While the army was in winter quarters, he returned to college at Richmond, and, completing his studies, was graduated in medicine in the spring of 1863. He then entered the regular service in the Confederate States navy, with the rank of assistant surgeon, and was ordered to Charleston, S. C., as examining and recruiting surgeon. In the fall of 1863, upon the completion of the ironclad Charleston, he was assigned to her as assistant surgeon. This vessel was the strongest and swiftest of the Confederate squadron in South Carolina waters, and was famous as "The Ladies' Ironclad Gunboat," on account of the large contributions made by the women of Charleston to the expense of its construction, in money, jewelry, silverware and the proceeds of fairs and entertainments. Upon this boat, the flagship of Commodore Tucker, Assistant Surgeon Halstead served until September 17, 1864, when he was detached from the flagship Charleston and ordered as senior medical officer of C. S. ironclad Richmond of the James river