Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 4.djvu/369

Rh quartermaster’s department, United States army, at Charleston. He died at Aiken, S. C., August 6, 1881.

Major-General Stephen Dodson Ramseur was born May 31, 1837, at Lincolnton, N. C., son of Jacob A. and Lucy M. Ramseur. Among his ancestors was John Wilfong, a revolutionary hero, who fought valiantly at King s Mountain and Eutaw Springs. He was educated at the United States military academy, with graduation in 1860, and was promoted to lieutenant in the Fourth artillery. His brief service in the United States army was rendered at Fortress Monroe and Washington, D. C., and was ended by his resignation April 6, 1861, to enter the service of the Confederate States government. He was offered the command of the Ellis light artillery, of Raleigh, was commissioned major of State troops, and was ordered to Smithfield, Va. He served at Yorktown, during the siege by McClellan, in command of artillery. Subsequently he was elected colonel of the Forty-ninth regiment of North Carolina infantry, of Robert Ransom s brigade, in which rank he won distinction during the Seven Days battles, and was severely wounded in the fatal charge at Malvern Hill. On October 27, 1862, General Lee recommended his promotion to brigadier-general as successor to the lamented George B. Anderson, of D. H. Hill s division. With this rank he was able to take the field after the battle of Fredericksburg. At Chancellorsville he led the advance of the division, then under Rodes, and in the fight on Sunday was conspicuous for determined valor. General Lee, writing to Governor Vance, June 4th, said of his brigade: &quot;I consider its brigade and regimental commanders as among the best of a their respective grades in the army, and in the battle of Chancellorsville, where the brigade was much distinguished and suffered severely, General Ramseur was among those whose conduct was especially commended to my notice by Lieutenant-General Jack-