Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/288

 288 Southern Historical Society Papers.

met, and was finally made Governor of Grenada. When the venture fell 'to pieces, through, as General Walker charges, the policy pur- sued by the United States and British Governments, General Fry returned to this country and settled in Alabama. At the breaking out of the war for Southern Independence he was one of the first to offer his sword to the State of his adoption. He rose successively to the rank of colonel and brigadier-general, and attested nobly his valor and ability. On the third day of the battle of Gettysburg he led the directing regiment of Wilcox's brigade up those bloody heights, adding lustre to the name of Alabama, and falling desperately wounded. He commanded subsequently the Confederate forces at Augusta, Ga. Upon the conclusion of the war General Fry went to Cuba, where he was for several years engaged in the tobacco busi- ness.

Returning to Alabama, he was appointed superintendent of the public school system. There his wife died without issue. General Fry removed from Alabama to Florida, where he for a time held connection with a cotton-mill at Tallahassie. About 1880 he made his residence in Richmond, and accepted the position of secretary and treasurer of the Marshall Manufacturing Company, of which his brother-in-law, the late John Lyddall Bacon, was the president. Upon the death of Mr. Bacon, General Fry succeeded him as presi- dent and held this position at the time of his death. His remains were interred by the side of his wife in Alabama. General Fry was of slight physique and medium height, and of mien so modest and gentle that a stranger would never have suspected that a form so frail held the lion spirit of so redoubtable a warrior.

He was a man of fine intellectual gifts and attainments, and a crit- ical observer. He possessed fine conversational talents, which, with his varied and adventurous experience, made him a delightful com- panion.

He was an earnest member of the Executive Committee of the Southern Historical Society, and his associates in that body bear affectionate testimony to his devotion as a patriot, his worth as a citizen, and to his zeal as a co-worker.

R. A. BROCK, Secretary of the Southern Historical Society.