Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/681

mission of major of artillery in the Confederate service, and soon accompanied Gen. W. W. Loring, assigned to the command of the army of Western Virginia, as chief of artillery. He served in the Trans-Alleghany, performing the duties of inspector-general in addition to those of his regular position, during the summer and fall of 1861, and was then ordered to report to Gen. R. E. Lee in the department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The association with the future commander-in-chief of the Confederate armies, begun amid the mountains of West Virginia, was continued throughout the four years' war, with intimate friendship and confidence. When Lee was given command of the army of Northern Virginia, Long was appointed military secretary with the rank of colonel. During the subsequent campaigns he rendered valuable service upon the field, especially in posting and securing the artillery. His efficiency in the disposition of artillery was particularly shown upon the fields of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In September, 1862, he was promoted brigadier-general and assigned to the duty of chief of artillery of the Second corps of the army. He was actively engaged during the Bristoe and Mine Run campaigns, and throughout the severe fighting of 1864 managed his artillery with vigor and unfailing judgment, sharing the battles of Ewell's corps until disabled by illness. He organized the artillery which accompanied Early in his campaign against Washington. Throughout the disasters which befell Early's army in the Shenandoah valley, subsequently, his artillery corps behaved with a steadfast gallantry and unfaltering courage that elicited the unbounded praise of the lieutenant-general commanding. General Long was with the Shenandoah army at the final disaster at Waynesboro and afterward accompanied Gordon's corps in the withdrawal from Richmond, participated in its engagements in April, 1865, and finally was surrendered and paroled at Appomattox. After the war closed he was appointed chief engineer of the James River & Kanawha canal company. Soon afterward he lost his eyesight by reason of exposure during his campaigns. He then removed to Charlottesville, where he passed the last twenty years of his life in total darkness. During this period his active mind was much employed in recalling the incidents of the war, and it was then that he wrote