Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/395

 Unveitiitf/ of Statue of General A. P. Hill. 389

THE ORATOR AND CHIEF MARSHAL. Brief Sketches of Generals James A. Walker and Harry Heth.

General James A. Walker, the unveiling orator, was born near Mt. Sidney, Augusta county, Virginia, August 27, 1833, and edu- cated at the Virginia Military Institute. On leaving the Institute, where he had a difficulty with Stonewall Jackson, which led to his sending the latter a challenge, he accepted a position in the engineer corps of the Covington and Ohio railway, now the Chesapeake and Ohio, but after eighteen months of service resigned and commenced the study of law under the late Colonel John B. Baldwin. Later he took the law ticket at the University of Virginia. About the year 1855 he removed to Northern Pulaski county, Virginia. He secured a good practice, and in 1865 was elected Commonwealth's attorney of his adopted county. When the war broke out General Walker entered the Confederate army as captain of the Pulaski Guard. Subsequently he commanded the Thirteenth Virginia, and later was made a brigadier-general, and commanded the Stonewall brigade. He was desperately wounded at the Wilderness, but in July, 1864, though still suffering with his wound, returned to the field and served to the end of the war. Nominated in 1868 for Lieutenant- Governor on the Conservative ticket with Withers, which ticket was withdrawn, he was in 1871 elected a member of the House of Delegates. In 1877 he was put on the ticket for Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, and was elected. Of late years he has devoted himself almost entirely to his profession. General Walker, or Stonewall Jim Walker, as he is known to the veterans, was one of the most despe- rate fighters in the Army of Northern Virginia.

THE CHIEF MARSHAL.

General Harry Heth, chie marshal of the parade, was born in this State in 1825, and graduated from West Point in 1845. He was assigned to the Sixth Infantry, became first lieutenant in 1853, adjutant in 1854, and captain in 1855. At the breaking out of the war he promptly resigned his commission in the United States army, and offering his services to his native State, was made a brig- adier-general. In May, 1863, he was promoted to major-general, and commanded a division in Hill's corps.