Civil War Confederate Army Brigadier General, US Congressman. He was born at Mount Sidney, Virginia, and received his early education at private schools; later attending the Virginia Military Institute. During his senior year there, he was dismissed on charges preferred by a professor, his future commander, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Although the cadet challenged Jackson to a duel, the two did not meet. He then worked for the Carrington and Ohio Railway before studying law at the University of Virginia. Following his graduation, he practiced his profession in Pulaski County, Virginia. When Virginia seceded, he entered Confederate service as Captain of the Pulaski Guard. He initially served under Jackson at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, then became Lieutenant Colonel of the 13th Virginia. In February 1862 he succeeded Brigadier General Ambrose Powell Hill as Colonel of the regiment, leading it in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley, Seven Days', and Second Bull Run Campaigns. A skillful, ferocious combat officer, he commanded a brigade at Antietam, where he suffered a wound. He commanded another brigade at Fredericksburg in December 1862 and at Chancellorsville in May 1863. His prowess as an officer so impressed Jackson that "Stonewall" specially requested his promotion to Brigadier General. He received his commission, and command of the Stonewall Brigade, which he led at Gettysburg, Bristoe, Mine Run, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. In this last battle, the brigade was mowed down and he was grievously wounded. On his return to duty, he commanded a division at Petersburg, and at Appomattox. After the war, he returned to Pulaski County, where he farmed and resumed his legal practice. He was elected to the state legislature as a Democrat in 1871. The following year, the Virginia Military Institute granted him an honorary degree, in recognition of his war career and listed him on the rolls as a graduate of the Institute. He became Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1876. He eventually split with the Democratic party and, as a Republican, served 2 terms in the United States House of Representatives. Ironically, his great grandson Manley C. Butler, would years later also serve in the Congress. He later would die in Wytheville, Virginia.