Jackson and formed a Chair of Applied Mechanics. To this chair Rodes was unanimously elected, and, although the interruption of the war forced him to take the field, he was always regarded as professor elect in the honourable institution of learning where his own genius had been nurtured, and around which his affections clung to the last moment of his life.

He promptly joined the standard of his adopted State, Alabama, and raised a company of infantry of which he was elected captain. This company was incorporated in the 5th Alabama Regiment, and, on the organization of the regiment, Rodes was chosen its Colonel. He came to Virginia in command of his regiment, in May, 1861; and his career soon gave evidence of the heroism and gallantry, which afterwards immortalized the name of his brigade and division in the Army of Northern Virginia. Promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General at Manassas, his command shared in all the hardships and glory of the first campaign of Virginia. At the battle of Seven Pines he led the charge upon the intrenched position of the enemy, and carried it with fearful loss to his brigade, he himself receiving a severe wound. His command on this field was composed of the 3d, 5th, 6th, 12th and 26th Alabama regiments and Carter's battery, making an aggregate of about 1,500 men.

In the estimation of his friends, he won, on this bloody field, promotion to a higher grade; but this honour was delayed to make his merits more conspicuous. At the battle of Chancellorsville, as senior Brigadier, he commanded D. H. Hill's division, and it was his gallant charge, with his clarion shout, "Forward men-over friend or foe!" that broke the enemy's line. It was the most glorious incident of his military life. With one division he drove before him the whole right wing of Hooker for three hours. He had fought under the eye of Jackson and won the last and characteristic applause of the great commander on the field of battle. "Gen. Rodes," he said, "your commission as MajorGeneral shall date from the 2d May." The promise of Gen. Jackson was studiously fulfilled by the government immediately after his death, and Gen. Rodes was promoted and placed in permanent command of the division he had so bravely led at Chancellorsville. He continued to lead it with consummate gallantry and skill until the disastrous batte of Winchester, in the autumn of

1864, when he fell at its head in the execution of an attack against the enemy which promised to decide the day. He was struck in the head by a ball, and died in half an hour after reaching the hospital.

Young, earnest, vigilant, intrepid, sagacious, Gen. Rodes was one of the most brilliant and valuable division commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia. His loss was keenly felt; a bright career of usefulness and distinction was before him; yet he had already accomplished a name to be remembered, and he sleeps with honour in the soldier's grave, reposing in the bosom of his own Virginia. Truly, proudly and tenderly has Gen. Francis H. Smith, the revered scholar and honoured superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute, written over the graves of the two men whom this school claims as her ornaments: Jackson and Rodes, associate professors in the same institution, associate officers in the same army, each finds a resting place on the banks of our noble James, and Lexington and Lynchburg will henceforth be the Meccas of the patriot soldier in his pilgrimage of honour to the sleeping heroes of our Revolution !"

MAJ.-GEN. ARNOLD ELZEY.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

A captain in the United States Army.-His surrender of the Augusta Arsenal to the State of Georgia.-"The Blucher of Manassas."-Services in the Shenandoah Valley.-Wounded at Gaines' Mills.-His successful command of the Department of Richmond.

ARNOLD ELZEY was born in 1816, in Somerset county, Maryland. He graduated at West Point, in 1837, at the early age of twenty, and was assigned to the Second Regiment of Artillery. He served in this regiment and in the line (never being on staff duty) until he resigned from the United States army, in 1861, to offer his services to the Southern Confederacy.

In the first Florida war he bore a gallant and conspicuous part, as also in the campaigns of Mexico. He was at the siege of Fort Brown (the initiation of hostilities), and himself fired the first gun discharged in the Mexican War. He served with distinction through the entire struggle, and was brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco.

At the commencement of hostilities between the North and South, Capt. Elzey was in command of the Augusta (Georgia) arsenal, which was garrisoned by one company. He surrendered to the State of Georgia, and by this act incurred the displeasure of the Washington authorities, and was banished to Fortress Monroe. While at the Fortress, he tendered his resig nation to the Government, and asked for leave of absence, which was refused. He then made his escape to Baltimore, immediately after the secession of Virginia, and offered his services to his native State. Procrastination in the action of Maryland through her Governor, made it necessary for him to leave the State. He went directly to Montgomery, was commissioned by President Davis, and sent to Virginia, where he was assigned to

the command of the 1st Maryland regiment of infantry, then being organized. After the evacuation of Harper's Ferry, this regiment, together with the 10th Virginia (commanded by Col. Gibbons,-killed at McDowell), the 13th Virginia (Col. and afterwards Lieut.-Gen. A. P. Hill), the 3d Tennessee, (Col., afterwards Brig.-Gen. Vaughn), and the Newtown Battery, were organized as the Fourth Brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah, and Col. Elzey as senior officer was put in command; leaving the immediate command of the 1st Maryland regiment to Lieut.Col. George H. Stewart.

This brigade was distinguished at the First Manassas, arriving on the field when the scale of battle had almost turned against the Confederate side. Colonel Elzey received the highest praise for his gallantry, and the skill displayed by him on this occasion in handling his troops, and was personally complimented by Gen. Beauregard, who termed him the "Blucher of the Day." Elzey was promoted to the position of Brigadier-General, to date from the memorable 21st July, and his brigade was assigned to duty in the "Reserve Divison" of the Army of the Potomac, (Second Corps) then commanded by Gen. E. Kirby Smith, and afterwards by Gen. Ewell. Gen. Smith was very seriously wounded at Manassas, while within a few feet of Elzey; but the latter escaped injury, though exposed to the hottest fire. Elzey's brigade served as rear guard to the army, on the banks of the Rappahannock, after Gen. Johnston had moved the greater part of his command to the Peninsula, and was afterwards with the rest of the "Reserve Division" sent to join Jackson in the Valley. Gen. Elzey served through Jackson's celebrated Valley campaign -at Front Royal, Winchester, Bolivar Heights, Strasburg, and Cross Keys, on which last field he was slightly wounded and his horse killed under him. His wound prevented him from joining in the battle of the next day at Port Republic. The position of the Confederate forces at Cross Keys was selected by him, and Gen. Ewell frequently availed himself of Elzey's experience and advice during the engagement. The official reports of Jackson and Ewell will show the high esteem in which he was held by these officers.

At Gaines' Mills, on the 27th June, 1862, Elzey's brigade was in the thickest of the fight, and suffered heavy loss. Gen. Elzey

was severely wounded by a musket ball through the face and head, and was carried from the field. Captain T. O. Chestney, his Assistant Adjutant-General, was wounded through the shoulder; Lieut. C. W. McDonald, Acting Inspector, was killed, and Lieut. Fields, who took McDonald's place, was also killed.

After the recovery of the General, he was promoted MajorGeneral, and was assigned to the command of the Department of Richmond which then extended from the James River to the operations of Lee's army on the Potomac. While in command of this department, he organized the "Local Defence Brigade," composed of the government clerks and workmen in Richmond. This force afterwards did good service in repelling raids of the enemy, which were of frequent occurrence, and the safety of Richmond on several occasions was determined by the avail ability of this command. The capture of Dahlgren; the destruc tion of a Federal gunboat in James River; the defeat of Stoneman's, Kilpatrick's and Sheridan's attempts on Richmond, at various times, and the repulse of numberless raiding parties of the enemy, served to show the vigilance of Gen. Elzey while holding this important command. Gen. Lee complimented him in writing on the fine appearance and quick movements of his heavy artillery command, when ordered to distant parts of the department, and the entire forces serving in his command were always kept in efficient condition.

In the early months of 1864, Gen. Elzey was sent to Staunton to organize the "Maryland Line," and, after accomplishing all that could be done to that end, was transferred to the Army of Tennessee, where he was assigned to the command of all the artillery of Hood's forces. The peculiar organization of this command (attached to separate divisions and brigades) prevented Gen. Elzey from exhibiting his talents, except on one or two occasions in the retreat from Nashville; and the subsequent dissolution of Hood's army left him without a command during the short time that elapsed between that event and the general sur render of the Confederate forces.

Like many others of the military leaders of the Confederacy, Gen. Elzey has, since the war, betaken himself to the peculiarly, retired life of a farmer, and has exchanged the sword for the implements of industry.