Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. He entered the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1846 with the endorsement of President James Knox Polk. Succeeding at the rigors of West Point, the native North Carolinian graduated 33rd out of the 42 graduating cadets of 1851. He was brevetted 2nd Lieutenant and assigned to the 3rd United States Infantry. Ultimately serving on the American frontier, the then 1st Lieutenant tendered his resignation from the United States Army on January 14, 1858. He subsequently relocated to Shreveport, Louisiana to administer his father's plantation. With the eventual secession of North Carolina from the United States in 1861, he offered his services to his native state. He was commissioned Colonel and was offered the leadership of the 14th North Carolina Infantry. On April 14, 1862, he was reassigned to command the 45th North Carolina Infantry. On the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia in the summer of 1862, he won laurels as an acting brigade commander during the Seven Days' campaign. He was confirmed Brigadier General in September 1862. At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he ably commanded the North Carolina regiments of the Thirty-second, Forty-third, Forty-fifth, Fifty-third and those of the Second battalion. On July 1, 1863, the first day of this epic battle, his soldiers participated in the desperate fighting in and around the Railroad Cut. In further action on July 3, he assisted in the ominous task to dislodge the Federal force on Culp's Hill. Failing at the effort to carry the formidable position, his command rested on their arms the remainder of the battle. On May 12th 1864, Daniel was felled with a mortal wound at the height of the most extreme fighting of the war. On the morning of the 12th at Spotsylvania, Virginia, Federal soldiers of General Winfield Scott Hancock's Second Corps had captured the "Mule Shoe"; an obtrude in the Confederate's line. On the ground that has become known as "The Bloody Angle", Daniel was shot through the abdomen as he edged his Confederates onward during a counterattack. He succumbed to the wound the following day.