On the retreat he fought at the battle of Sailor's Creek, and escaped from that disaster to surrender at Appomattox. He returned to his home with a capital of twenty dollars with which to make a start in life. He found employment in farming, teaching school for several years, and meanwhile became influential socially and politically, and generally respected by the people. In 1880 he was appointed to the position of chief of the miscellaneous section of the eastern division of the pension office, which he has since held. He is regarded as a faithful and trustworthy official. In 1869 Major Miller was married in Shenandoah county, to Mattie Miller, daughter of the late Philip Miller, and they have four sons and two daughters to brighten their home.
Captain Tuley Joseph Mitchell, a worthy business man of Roanoke, Va., had a varied experience in the Confederate army, and, throughout, was faithful and devoted to the cause. He was born in Augusta county, and, at the time of the crisis of 1861, was pursuing collegiate studies in the university at Princeton, N. J. With true loyalty to his State, he promptly returned to Virginia when her action was decided upon, and, in June, 1861, became a private in the Fifty-second Virginia infantry regiment. Soon afterward, however, he was released from service, as being under age. In 1862 he again enlisted, as a private in the Fifth Virginia infantry regiment, Stonewall brigade, and soon afterward was appointed to the commissary department, under Major Ballard, with rank as captain. After about one year's service in this capacity, he became a member of the Eighteenth Virginia cavalry, with which he served actively in the field until captured by the enemy in June, 1864. He was engaged in the battles of Moorefield, Grass Lick, Williamsport, Sharpsburg, Strasburg, New Market, and New Hope, mostly in West Virginia and the valley, in all of which he was distinguished for soldierly conduct. During the affair at New Hope, Augusta county, in June, 1864, he was slightly wounded in the head and captured by the Federals. His life as a prisoner of war was a long and tedious one, including three weeks at Camp Morton, Ind., nine months at Johnson's island, Ohio, and then at Fort McHenry, Point Lookout and Fort Delaware, until his parole, by the assistance of his uncle, Hon. J. T. Thomas, and Hon. John W. Forney, in May, 1865. After the close of hostilities he engaged in farming in Fauquier county, until 1893, when he removed to Roanoke and engaged in real estate brokerage, his present occupation, in which it is gratifying to note that he has met with much success.
James M. Moelick, of Pulaski City, rendered his four years' service in the Confederate cause throughout a wide field, extending from Manassas to Vicksburg. He is a native of Botetourt county, where he entered the service, May 15, 1861, as a private in Company I, Twenty-eighth Virginia infantry, which he joined at Lynchburg, Va., and accompanied in the movement to Manassas, where the regiment shared the glorious deeds of Cocke's brigade. On December 15, 1861, he re-enlisted with his company, the first in Virginia to re-enlist for the war, whereupon the company was transferred to the artillery service and was thenceforward known as the Botetourt light artillery, Capt. Joseph W. Anderson commanding. After receiving instruction in that line of service, the company
