Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/403

 General David Bullock Harris, C. S. A. 397

consummate skill that they withstood all assault, and only fell into the hands of the enemy upon evacuation.

He directed the irresistable armament of Battery Wagner, the defence of which is so thrillingly depicted in the eloquent address of Colonel Twiggs in preceding pages of this volume. He was subse- quently sent by General Beauregard to Florida, and after the battle of Ocean Pond (Olustee), drove in the enemy's pickets and estab- lished a line of General Finnegan's force. When General Beaure- gard was called to Petersburg to aid in the vital defence of Richmond, General Harris followed from Florida and began at once the con- struction of his grand series of fortifications which as Grant faceti- ously remarked "bottled up Butler." He also planned the defence of Drewry's Bluff and advised the countermining at the Crater, but was not present at the explosion, his services having been called to another point. His services were next solicited at Mobile, but his shattered health, occasioned by his long and arduous service, influ- enced the War Department to give him a leave of absence to try the effect of home comforts in recruiting his health. The duration of his leave was left to his own discretion as to his ability for service.

On his return to Richmond, still in feeble health, he was ordered by President Davis to proceed at once to Charleston.

The yellow fever prevailed there at the time, and contracting the dread disease General Harris died at Summerville, South Carolina, in less than a week after his arrival there, on October 10, 1864. His remains were subsequently removed to Richmond and interred in Hollywood Cemetery.

He left a wife and eight children; three sons David, Richard and Alexander Barrett, and five daughters Frederika (wife of Page Morton, of Richmond, Virginia), Charlotte, Juliana (wife of Judge A. R. Leake, of Goochland county, Virginia), Eliza and Eva Vir- ginia.

Distinguished officers of the late Confederate army have borne the warmest testimony to the merit of General Harris.

General Beauregard wrote: " He was the only officer in his com- mand who never made a mistake; that he always exceeded his most sanguine expectations; that his rank never equalled his true posi- tion, and that Charleston and Petersburg should each erect a monu- ment to his memory." General J. F. Gilmer wrote: "His works and courage had never been surpassed, and the country had never known the extent of his services, nor had his qualities of head and