A Presbyterian, he was a church deacon and member of the board of trustees of Washington & Lee University.
He enlisted as a private in the so-called "Fensibles," which went to the front from Montgomery County under Stonewall Jackson's command.
[2] After his return to the Confederate Army, he was appointed to the command of Company E, 25th Virginia Infantry.
After receiving pleas from his father that his mother was in a bad way and needed her son, he pledged an oath of loyalty to the Union.
[3] But after discovering he was deceived and that she was in good health, he returned to the Confederacy and joined a cavalry regiment.