and his home county lay as it were upon the verge of the battlefield, he enlisted as a private in the "Albemarle Light Horse," then enrolled as Company K of the Second Virginia cavalry, the regiment of Col. T. T. Munford. With this gallant command he was a faithful soldier during the remainder of the struggle, taking part in the fights at Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, Aldie, Bristoe, Mine Run, and the Wilderness campaigns, and many minor encounters of cavalry. At Spottsylvania Court House, in May, 1864, he received a wound in the left arm which disabled him for further active service. After the close of hostilities he returned to his farm home and soon afterward began the study of medicine, which he continued at the university of Virginia. He then turned his attention to the study of law, and, beginning the practice at Culpeper, in 1870, has ever since been prominent in that profession. He served as commonwealth attorney in Culpeper county for several years, before his removal to Orange. Since 1891 he has held the office of judge of the county court of Orange, and has given remarkable satisfaction by the ability and impartiality of his service in this honorable position. Judge Morton has also served as a legislator, as a member of the house of delegates from Orange county, in 1887-88. He was married November 29, 1876, at Atlanta, Ga., to Miss Emily D. Harper, of that city, and they have five children.
Colonel John Singleton Mosby, son of Alfred D. Mosby, of Amherst county, was born December 6, 1833, at Edgemont, Powhatan county, the residence of his maternal grandfather, Rev. McLaurin. At the age of sixteen years he entered the university of Virginia, where his course of study was terminated by an unfortunate difficulty with a fellow student, in which the latter was wounded. Mosby was punished for this affair by imprisonment, but the attorney who had vigorously prosecuted him aided him during this confinement in the study of law, the profession which he subsequently followed at Bristol, Va., until the secession of Virginia. During his residence at Bristol he married Pauline, daughter of Beverly J. Clarke, of Kentucky, prominent in the United States Congress and the diplomatic service. He was first advised of the action of the Virginia convention, at Abingdon, and immediately enlisted in the Washington Mounted Rifles, under Capt. William E. Jones. He joined Stuart's cavalry at Bunker Hill, and made his first scout at Bull Run. When Jones became colonel of the First Virginia cavalry he was appointed adjutant of the regiment, with the rank of lieutenant. He captured his first prisoners in a scout from Warrenton in the spring of 1862. When Jones was transferred to another regiment, Mosby was invited by Stuart to remain with him as a scout, and, in this capacity, he made a reconnoissance preparatory to Stuart's famous Chickahominy raid, and as guide led that expedition. After the Seven Days' campaign, being sent in the direction of Fredericksburg, he saw the opportunity for independent service in Fauquier county, and asked for such orders, but instead was sent to General Jackson. En route he was captured, but was exchanged in time to give Lee the information of Burnside's movement toward Fredericksburg, and serve with Stuart in the Second Manassas and Maryland campaigns. He made an important scouting expedition before the battle of Fredericksburg and soon afterward was granted independent command. General
