To those who do not know him, it may be proper to state that
he was educated as a soldier; after leaving the army became a lawyer,
but, when his country was involved in war with Mexico, he volunteered
and served in a regiment of his native State, Virginia. After that war
terminated, he returned to the practice of his profession, which he was
actively pursuing when the controversy between the sections caused the
call of a convention to decide whether Virginia should secede from the
Union. He was sent, by the people of the county in which he resided, to
represent them in that convention. There he opposed to the last the
adoption of the ordinance for secession; but, when it was decided,
against his opinion, to resort to the remedy of withdrawal from the
Union, he, true to his allegiance to the State of which he was a
citizen, paused not to cavil or protest, but at once stepped forth to
defend her against a threatened invasion. The sword that had rusted in
peace gleamed brightly in war. He rose to the high grade of
lieutenant-general. None have a more stainless record as a soldier, none
have shown a higher patriotism or purer fidelity through all the bitter
trials to which we have been subjected since open war was ended and
nominal peace began.
Extracts from the narrative of General J. A. Early, of events occurring
when he was colonel of the Twenty-fourth Regiment of Virginia Infantry
and commanding a brigade:
"On June 19, 1861, I arrived at Manassas Junction and reported
to General P.
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