He was graduated at Harvard for the life of a civilian, but took a
commission in the United States Army as lieutenant, and served with
fidelity to duty under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston in the Utah
expedition of 1858.
At its close he resigned and returned to his country home, where he
continued to live until 1861, when he entered the Confederate army,
and, rising by rapid promotion to the rank of major-general of
cavalry, closed his efficient and faithful military career in 1865,
when he again returned to country life, and died at the seat of his
ancestors, at Ravensworth, in Fairfax County.
In the mean time his private life was interrupted by the voice of
his people, which called him to their service in the senate of
Virginia and for three terms as their Representative in Congress,
two of which he completed, and left the vacancy in the third by his
untimely death.
Truth, honor, and courage to do good and to resist evil, sincerity
in all relations and fidelity to all duty, were heirlooms of his
race and lineage, which he kept and left untarnished to his
posterity.
With a mind strong and vigorous, a judgment sound and well-poised,
a calm and self-contained temper, which impelled him to the right
and restrained him from the wrong, and a moral sense which guided
and controlled his purposes and his actions along the path of
absolute rectitude, he lived a life adorned by noble virtues and
filled with noble deeds.
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