Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/104

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VIRGIXIA BIOGRAPHY

and resigned his commission May lo, 1861. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the provisional army of Virginia ; com- manded a detachment of about 1,300 men and four cannon at Rich Mountain, \'ir- ginia, in July, 1861, and sent a force of 350 men and one cannon, with orders to guard the rock at the mountain summit. The force was attacked by Gen. Rosecrans and after a gallant defense defeated, and Col. Pegram was forced to abandon his position. July 12, 1861. He retreated to Beverley and on account of scarcity of food and on learning of Gen. Garrett's retreat, surrendered his force of thirty officers and 525 men to Gen. McClellan, July 13, 1861. He was commissioned brigadier-general in the Confederate army, November 7, 1862; was assigned to the command of a brigade made up of the First Georgia and First Louisiana Cavalry regiments in Wheeler's cavalry corps, in the Army of the Tennes- see, and engaged in the battle of Stone's River. Tennessee, where he was posted on the Lebanon Pike in the advance of Breck- enridge's right. He was promoted major- general and took part in the battle of Chick- amauga in command of the second division of Forrest's cavalry corps, and his division was held in reserve by Gen. Breckenridge. He commanded a brigade in Early's divis- ion, Ewell's corps, in the Wilderness and at Cold Harbor, and when Early assumed com- mand of the Confederate army in the Shen- andoah Valley he succeeded to the com- mand of Early's division and took a con- spicuous part in the battles of W'inchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. He com- manded his division in Gordon's corps at Petersburg and Richmond. December. 1864, t > February. 1865. He was married in Jan-

uary, 1865. to Hetty Cary, of Baltimore Maryland. He was fatally wounded at Hat- cher's Run, near Petersburg, and died on iho battlefield, February 6, 1865.

Pegram, Robert Baker, was born in Din- widdle county, \'irginia, December 10, 181 1, son of Gen. John (q. v.) and Martha Ward (Gregory) Pegram. He was appointed mid- ."hipman in the United States navy, Febru- ary 2, 1829. and served :n the Mediterran- ean squadron. He was promoted lieuten- ant. September 8, 1841, and during the war v.ith j\Iexico, served under Capt. David G. I'crragut on the Saratoga. In 1852 he took part in the Japan expedition.. He was en- gaged in the expedition organized by the combined forces of the British ship Rattler and the Uniied States vessel Poichatan tgainst a piratical fleet of thirty-one junks, of which he captured sixteen, and also one hundred canron with a loss to the pirates of (lOO men. For this service he was personally thanked by Admiral Sir James Stirling, flag officer of the British East India squadron and by the government of Hong Kong and Great Britain^ and presented with a sword from the state of Virginia. He was on duty in the Norfolk navy yard, 1856-60; served in the Paraguay expedition nine months of

1858. and as a commissioner to define the limits of the Newfoundland fisheries in

1859. He resigned his commission in the United States navy. April 17, 1861. and was ajipointed captain in the Confederate navy. He was given command of the Norfolk navy yard after its evacuation by the Federal troops, April 21, 1861 ; fortified Pig Point on the Nansemond river. \'^irginia, and with its batteries disabled the LTnited States steamer Harriet Lane, which was surveving