Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. Although born in Augusta, Georgia, he was raised in New York City, and graduated from Yale in 1845. After a brief interest in the law, he became assistant editor of the Baltimore Patriot. In 1848 he turned to the profession he was best suited, civil engineering, and for the next 7 years worked on the engineering staff of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In 1855 he moved to Georgia and later to South Carolina as chief of construction for the Blue Ridge Railroad. When the Civil War began, he enlisted in the South Carolina militia, and his engineering skills soon brought him to Richmond. As a civilian he became chief engineer for Major General John B. Magruder's army on the peninsula. In February 1862 he was appointed a Captain of Engineers. Advancing to Major later that year, he reported to Colonel Josiah Gorgas and was assigned to the Niter and Mining Corps in Richmond. Blockaded on all sides, the Confederacy, short of gunpowder and metals, was desperate for these materials. He soon efficiently organized the vital supply operations that provided them. His success was recognized by promotion to Colonel in 1863. As the circumstances of the Confederate armies worsened, it became evident that the ailing Commissary General, Colonel Lucius B. Northrop, would have to be relieved. He was the obvious choice, and he accepted this difficult assignment on February 16, 1865, with the rank of Brigadier General. He accompanied President Jefferson Davis and other Confederate officials when Richmond was evacuated on April 2, 1865. He surrendered at Thomasville, Georgia, on May 23rd and returned to Richmond, where he took the oath of amnesty on June 18th. After the war, he resumed his civil-engineering work. From 1866 to 1869 he was chief engineer for the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington Railroad. He then served as city engineer in Louisville. At the time of his death, he was in charge of the mining and engineering department of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.