Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/403

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

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married, in 1842, \'irginia Helena Lee, and had issue : Lucullus Philip, James Lee, John C. Calhoun, Virginia Cordelia and Corylind.

Lucullus Philip Slater was born in Wil- liamsburg, Virginia, 1843, and after a course of private school instruction entered William and Mary College, then under the super- vision of Colonel Seawall. He left college in his eighteenth year to enlist in the Con- federate arm}-, enrolling on April 17, 1861, in the Williamsburg Junior Guards, which went to the front as Company C, Thirty- seventh Regiment Virginia Infantry, Army of Northern \'irginia. He served through- out the entire war and when paroled at Appomattox he ranked as lieutenant. He was wounded in the battle of Seven Pines and was once held as a prisoner of war, but only for one hour. He passed through all the vicissitudes of the Army of Northern Virginia, under its great commander. Gen- eral Lee, alternately rejoicing in victory, and suflfering under reverse, but always brave, hopeful and faithful to whatever duty assigned him.

After the war he made Portsmouth his home and has there since continuously re- sided. In the early years he opened and taught a private school, but his reputation as a teacher attracted the attention of the board of education and he was offered the principalship of the city high school. He ac- cepted the offer and for a number of years was the efficient head of that school. The work there performed was of high order and resulted in a great forward movement that placed the school among the best and most useful in the state. During this period, ending in 1900, Air. Slater was a member of the city councils several terms, was presi- dent of council, and rendered useful service in framing legislation, bringing the city in line with the best modern thought in civic government. In iqoo he was elected city clerk, an office he yet holds.

This brief review of the activities of a life honorably and usefully spent but im- perfectly indicates the true worth and value of the life and service of Mr. Slater. But his record is indelibly Avritten in the records cf the departments in which he has served and in the lives of thousands who have passed under his teaching and influence. His methodical methods in connection with the clerk's office have been valuable aids to greater efficiency and greatly facilitated the

work of that office. Although now past his seventieth year there is no faltering in his devotion to duty, nor any indication that experienced matured judgment is not a bet- ter asset than youthful enthusiasm. His friends are legion and nowhere is he more genuinely welcomed than among his army comrades of Stonewall Camp, Confederate V^eterans. In politics he is thoroughly inde- pendent.

Air. Slater married, in 1879. Elizabeth pjuckner, a relative of General Buckner of the Confederate army, and a descendant of Thomas Buckner, who came from England in 1667, settling in Gloucester county, Vir- ginia. Among his children are : Lucullus Philip (2), and Fannie Lee.

Robert Southall Bright. The name of Bright is of ancient Saxon origin and has been quite common in England from a very early period to the present time, borne by many eminent men, notably John Bright, the statesman. In Saxon it was spelled "Beorght" and was used as signifying "dis- tinguished," "excellent," "surpassing in courage," "an excellent or distinguished man." The Brights of Suft'olk, England, trace to William Bright, rector of Endgate, Eccles, whose patron was the Abbott of Bury St. Edmunds. To this family arms, confirmed in 1615, are thus described in Burke's "Armory": "Sable, a fesse argent between three escallops or." Crest : "A dragon's head gule vomiting flames of fire proper, collared or." In America the name is found from the time of the earliest Eng- lish settlements, appearing as early as 1630.

Robert Southall Bright, of the Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, bar, a twentieth cen- tury representative of the family, is a son of Captain Robert Anderson Bright, a brave officer of the Confederate army, aide-de-camp to General George E. Pickett, who especially commended him in his official reports for "Gallantry and untiring zeal." Captain Bright was appointed a mem])er of General Pickett's staff on the latter's promotion to the rank of major-general, October 10, 1862, and thereafter followed the fortunes of his chief through the terrific struggles of the Army of Northern Virginia with her valiant foe. the Army of the Potomac, on both northern and southern soil. In his report on the operations at Newbern General Pick- ett wrote : "I sent Captain Bright across