Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/624

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

road, and afterwards engaged in the same kind of work with railroads in Mississippi and Missouri. About the year 1858 he re- turned to Virginia and resumed his resi- dence in his native town. Abandoning the ])rofession of engineer, he determined to de- vote himself to an active business career, and forthwith entered upon the manufacture of tobacco, an enterprise that rapidly car- ried him to wealth and prominence. Early in his business career he became associated with the late William H. Lloyd under the style of Winfree and Lloyd, and remained a member of that firm until several years prior to his death, when on the demise of Mr. Lloyd it was dissolved. Major Winfree then devoted the remaining years of his life to looking after his extensive and valuable estate and in contributing to the advance- ment of the various religious and educa- tional organizations with which he was con- nected and in which he took a keen interest.

Major Winfree was for many years and until his death a director of the People's National Bank, and he was also a director and one of the original promoters of the Lynchburg Cotton Mill and the Glamorgan Pipe and Foundry Company. In these im- portant enterprises, as well as in many others with which he was identified, he was valued for his sound judgment and strict integrity, and he undoubtedly contributed materially to the brilliant success to which they attained. In all his business ventures he never lost sight of the benefit that Lynch- burg as a community was to secure, and the advancement and prosperity of his native city was always to him a source of honest pride and satisfaction.

As first lieutenant of the Lynchburg Rifles, Major ^^'infree entered the service of the Confederacy in June, 1861. The com- mand became Company E, Eleventh Vir- ginia Regiment, under Colonel Samuel Garland, and was assigned to Longstreet's brigade of Beauregard's Army of the Poto- mac. With this regiment he participated in the battles of Blackburn's Ford, Manas- sas and Drainsville, in the summer of 1861, and was promoted to captain of his com- pany. He held this rank until the reorgan- ization in the spring of 1862, when he re- turned to Lynchburg with a commission as major in the Virginia service and assumed charge of the home guards. A year later he entered the engineer corps of the army.

in which he continued to serve until the close of the war. After the surrender of the forces under General Lee he attempted to join the Confederate forces in North Caro- lina under General Johnson, but was halted at Danville by news of the general sur- render and was subsequently paroled at Lynchburg.

In early manhood I\Iajor Winfree became a member of the Methodist church, and to the end of his days he remained a faithful and devoted advocate of its principles and an important contributor to the promotion of its missions. He at first joined the Meth- odist Protestant church, but later became a member of the Court Street Methodist Church, and so continued until the ^lemo- rial Church was built, when he transferred his membership to the latter. This church, to the establishment of which Major Win- free was a liberal contributor, was in the name which it adopted a tribute to the worth and goodness of Major Winfree's first wife. From the very day of the foun- dation of the church. Major Winfree became a member of its board of stewards, and con- tinued to serve in that capacity until his death. He was for many years a member of the board of finance of the Virginia An- nual Conference, one of the most important and responsible positions in that body. When a movement was inaugurated for the loca- tion in Lynchburg for the Randolph-]\Iacon Woman's College, Major Winfree from the very outset became one of its strongest friends and most zealous supporters, and when the walls of the college buildin^^s that now crown one of the eminences of River- mont rose to completion, it was perhaps one of the most gratifying events in Major Winfree's life, for it represented to him not only a brilliant achievement in the cause of Methodism, but it afforded him a clear view of the progress made by Lynchburg and the long strides made in the onward march of education. From its very incipiency, Major Winfree was a member of the most important boards of the college, and at all times con- tributed generously of his means to the maintenance of the institution.

Polite, courteous and genial. Major Win- free possessed the good will and kindly re- gard of all with whom he came in contact, and on the streets of the city there was per- haps no figure with which the general pub- lic was more familiar. Tall and handsome.

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