Brigadier General, CSA, Civil War. A businessman prior to the war, he served as Captain of a militia company known as the Baldwin Blues. When Georgia seceded, the company formed part of the 4th Georgia. The Georgians spent the war's first year stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, and elected him their Colonel in May 1862. Joining the Army of Northern Virginia, the 4th Georgia saw action at Malvern Hill, where a shellburst temporarily disabled him. At South Mountain and at Antietam, he and his regiment performed conspicuously. Without military training, the Georgia colonel possessed a natural talent for command and was promoted to Brigadier General on November 1, 1862. Assigned command of 4 Georgia regiments, he rendered gallant, capable service in the campaigns of 1863. At Chancellorsville, on May 2nd, his brigade spearheaded the surprise attack of Major General Robert E. Rodes's division. The Georgians crashed into the Union right flank, with the entire division routing the Union XI Corps. The next day his brigade participated in the successful assaults that doomed the Union army to defeat at Chancellorsville. On July 1, at Gettysburg, Rodes's brigades delivered another riveting attack, again crushing the Union XI Corps. Once again he distinguished himself. He earned increasing praise and renown in the battles during spring 1864, with the brigade fighting valiantly at the Wilderness. On May 10th at Spotsylvania, however, the brigade suffered a costly defeat. In a brilliantly planned and executed attack, Union Colonel Emory Upton severed the Georgians' line along the "Mule Shoe." The surprised Confederates fought stubbbornly but hundreds were captured. He rallied the remnants and, with additional units, finally recaptured the trenches. Less than a month later, on June 2nd, while he supervised the building of his line at Bethesda Church, near Cold Harbor, a Federal sharpshooter killed him instantly. It proved to be another loss that Robert E. Lee could ill afford in that spring of attrition, for he was now regarded as one of the best brigadiers in the Army of Northern Virginia.