Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/991

Rh the front, but he had his dangers to apprehend and fatigues to endure. The wagon train was a vital point against which the enemy directed frequent attacks, and while it was the wagonmaster's duty rather to escape than fight, provided he escaped with his stores, the ingenuity and coolness in circumstances of danger, which his position required, developed in him excellent qualities of soldiership. Mr. Harkrader, in the course of his service, participated in the Maryland campaign in 1862 and then, returning to Virginia, went under General Echols' command down the Kanawha valley to Charleston, W. Va., returning to the narrows of the New river for the winter. After the Gettysburg campaign he accompanied his battalion to Richmond, where he was on duty during the severe fighting of the spring and summer of 1864. He shared the perils and hardships of the army in the valley during Early's campaign against Sheridan, and passed the winter of 1864 at Fisher's hill. On March 2, 1865, he was in the fight at Waynesboro, where the brave remnant of Early's army made a gallant stand and was almost entirely destroyed. Then, returning to Lynchburg from that place, he accompanied General Echols in his attempt to unite with General Johnston's army. But it was impossible to make the junction and the command was disbanded at Mount Airy, N. C. After the war he returned to his home, near Wytheville, and engaged in farming. On November 23, 1855, he married a daughter of Henry Copenhaver and they have one child, Frances B., the wife of Walter S. White. Mr. Harkrader has served twelve years as sheriff of his county. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran church and honored and well respected citizens of the community.

Lieutenant William F. Harrison, of Madison, Va., a veteran of Kemper's brigade, Pickett's division, was born at the town where he now resides, September 12, 1840. He completed his education at Richmond college and, in his twenty-first year, entered the service of Virginia and the Confederacy, enlisting as a private in the volunteer organization, formed in April, 1861, which was assigned as Company A to the Seventh Virginia infantry, commanded by Colonel Kemper. In the brigade of General Early, in Beauregard's army, he took part in the action at Blackburn's Ford and the first famous battle of the war, the route of the Federal army at Manassas, July 21, 1861. His brigade was subsequently commanded by General Kemper and, with it, he shared the record of Pickett's division until the close of the war. He took part in the battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines and Frayser's Farm, on the peninsula, and received a slight wound at Williamsburg. He also participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, the Suffolk and North Carolina campaigns, including the capture of Plymouth, the immortal action of his division at Gettysburg, aided in the repulse of Butler at Drewry's Bluff and fought many months in the trenches before Petersburg. His last battles were at Milford Station (where he received a severe wound in the left breast). Five Forks and Sailor's Creek. Being captured with many others in the latter disastrous encounter, he was held as a prisoner at the Old Capitol prison and Johnson's island until some time after the close of hostilities. During the last three years of the war he held the rank of second lieutenant. Since his return to Madison he has given considerable of his time to mercantile pursuits, but has also had a prominent career as a county official. He was first elected