Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. Born in Exmouth, England, he was descended from an old and knightly English family from Yorkshire. He was educated at Winchester College and at 17 was commissioned by William IV an ensign in His Majesty's 14th Regiment of Foot. After serving 3 years in Ireland and several more in the West Indies and Canada, he relinquished his captaincy in 1842 and emigrated to the United States. Settling in North Carolina, he married into a prominent local family. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he hastened into the Confederate ranks. His community standing and military background won him the rank of Colonel in the 34th North Carolina Infantry. He brought his regiment to such a remarkable state of discipline and training that by December he was given temporary command of a brigade. In April 1862 he was transferred to the 11th North Carolina and soon was sent to the Atlantic coast to head the District of Wilmington. Later that year he manned the defenses along Virginia's Blackwater River, where his regiment guarded a line some 26 miles long. Returning to North Carolina in December, he was conspicuous in the middle of the month in skirmishing at White Hall, which slowed Federals under Brigadier General John G. Foster in their advance toward Goldsborough. After helping repulse a sortie during the Siege of Washington, in April 1863, the 11th North Carolina joined General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. During the Gettysburg Campaign, the outfit formed part of Brigadier General James J. Pettigrew's brigade of Major General Henry Heth's division in Lieutenant General Ambrose P. Hill's Corps. With the rest of Heth's command, it participated in the first day's fighting at Gettysburg, where he was seriously wounded. Captured during the Confederate retreat to Virginia, he was forced to submit to a painful operation without benefit of anesthesia. He survived but was not released from imprisonment for 9 months. Thereafter, as a Brigadier General of North Carolina troops, he operated along the Roanoke River and the Petersburg & Weldon Railroad. His state generalship made him the Confederacy's only English born soldier to hold that rank. On February 18, 1865, he also became a Brigadier General in the Confederate ranks, but 3 weeks later he refused the appointment, choosing instead to remain in state service. After the war, he was involved in several business enterprises, and traveled frequently to his native land. He lived for a time in New York City, however, he ultimately settled in Wilkes County, North Carolina, where he would later die.