American cavalry leader in the Confederate army, born in Fauquier county, VA, in 1824. Before the Civil War he was a planter in Markham, Fauquier county, and a local politician. When hostilities began he raised a regiment of cavalry, which he led with conspicuous success in the Valley campaigns of 1861–62, under Joseph Johnston and Stonewall Jackson. He was promoted a brigadier-general shortly before his death, which took place in a cavalry skirmish at Harrisonburg, VA, on the 6th of June 1862. By his early death the Confederates lost one of the best cavalry officers in their service.
