The father died July 25th, and the mother August 10th, of the same year. In March, 1862, Edward enlisted in Capt. W. G. Brawner's Independent cavalry company, and three months later he was detailed for duty as scout and courier for Gen. J. E. B. Stuart. He continued in this service throughout the famous raids and battles and campaigns of the great cavalry leader, including contests at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House and until General Stuart fell in 1864 at Yellow Tavern on the Brooke turnpike near Richmond. Mr. Cole then served in the same capacity for Gen. Robert E. Lee during the fighting around Gaines' Mill, after which he returned to his company, which had been attached to Col. John S. Mosby's command. Capt. W. H. Baylor commanded Company H and Cole remained with that command, taking part in the raid around Fairfax Court House and Charlestown and other places, until the surrender, April 9, 1865; and a few days later he surrendered at Winchester and took the oath of allegiance to the United States. He then returned to Fredericksburg, Va., where he remained in the employment of the Virginia express company for two years. On May 9, 1867, he was married to Alice Gray Cole, daughter of Counsellor Cole, then returned to his native county. Prince William, and engaged in farming for four years, when he returned to Fredericksburg and embarked in mercantile business with his brother-in-law, R. G. Swift, and since the death of the latter, he has continued in business alone. From a very slight beginning he has become one of the foremost and most prosperous merchants of the city, and his active participation in public affairs meanwhile has made him a valued and respected citizen. For nearly twenty years past he has been one of the most influential members of the city council, holding the chairmanship of important committees and laboring faithfully for the common good. In 1897 he was elected recorder of the city. He is a charter member of the Fredericksburg and Adjacent National Battlefields Memorial Park association of Virginia, was a member of the advisory board for the erection of the Mary Washington monument, and was for two years, by appointment of Mrs. Amelia C. Waite, president of the National association, in charge of the Mary Washington monument and park. He is at present a member of the staff of the governor of Virginia with the title and rank of colonel of cavalry. His spacious residence is on Washington heights in the city of Fredericksburg, fronting the Monument park. Two children of Colonel Cole are living, Sarah, wife of William L. Brannan, and Alice.
Major Holmes Conrad, who, during the latter half of the second administration of President Cleveland, held the position of solicitor-general of the United States, is a native of Virginia, and served with distinction throughout the entire war of the Confederacy. He was born at Winchester, in the Shenandoah valley, January 31, 1840, and was reared at that city, receiving his preparatory schooling at the Winchester academy and completing his education at the university of Virginia. On April 17, 1861, the day of the passage of the ordinance of secession by the convention, he enlisted as a private in Company A of the First Virginia cavalry regiment. He was appointed first sergeant of his troop and served in that capacity until January, 1862, when he was transferred to the Seventeenth battalion
