Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 7.djvu/763

266 of 1862, that memorable "year of battles" so full of marvelous exploits, when Lee's gallant army raised the siege of Richmond, bowled over Pope at Manassas, crossed into Maryland and, while one wing of the army captured Harper's Ferry, the other wing kept McClellan in check and repulsed him at Sharpsburg, crowning the year's work by the tremendous victory at Fredericksburg. Before the last named battle Colonel Posey's meritorious and gallant conduct had been rewarded by a commission as brigadier-general, which he received on the first day of November, 1862. His brigade consisted of four Mississippi regiments and formed a part of Anderson's division of A. P. Hill's corps. In the campaign of 1863, at Chancellorsville and again at Gettysburg, General Posey conducted himself with the gallantry for which he had always been distinguished. At Bristoe station, on the 14th of October, General Posey was severely wounded in the left thigh by a fragment of shell. He was carried to Charlottesville, Va., and there died on November 13, 1863. He gave to his country the supreme gift, devoted service crowned with a patriot's death.

Brigadier-General Claudius W. Sears entered the army in the Forty-sixth Mississippi regiment, of which he was commissioned colonel December 11, 1862. The regiment served in north Mississippi, and took a gallant part in the defeat of Sherman at Chickasaw Bayou by Gen. S. D. Lee, also being among the successful defenders of Fort Pemberton on the Yazoo, under Loring's command. Colonel Sears commanded the regiment in the battle of Port Gibson, May 1, 1863. The brigade to which it was attached, W. E. Baldwin's, of M. L. Smith's division, was in reserve during the fighting at Baker's Creek, and during the siege of Vicksburg, which followed, performed its share of fighting on the lines. "Colonel Sears, Forty-sixth Mississippi," said General Baldwin, "merits favorable notice for his conduct during this trying time."