1896. His devotion to the order, the prominence he has achieved in civil life and his honorable record in the past, were appropriately recognized by his election to the State commandership in 1895.
Francis Sorrel, M. D., of Roanoke, who rendered distinguished services in the medical department of the Confederate States army, was born at Savannah, Ga., in the year 1827. In 1839 he was sent to Princeton, N. J., for his education, and was graduated there in 1846. He then pursued the study of medicine in the university of Pennsylvania, and was graduated professionally in 1848. In the following year he entered the United States army as an assistant surgeon, and served in that capacity toward the close with the rank of captain until 1856, when he resigned his commission. The following year was spent in Europe and upon his return he went to California, where he speedily attained prominence and was elected to the California legislature in 1860. The impending crisis in the East, however, made his stay on the Pacific coast of short duration. In June, 1861, he returned to his native region to offer his services to the government of the Confederate States at Richmond. He was promptly commissioned as a surgeon in the regular army, and his experience and unusual ability were recognized by assignment to special duty of great importance. He was charged with the erection and management of the general hospital system of the army, with headquarters at Richmond, where he remained on duty until the evacuation of the capital. In March, 1865, he was married to Mrs. Rives, widow of Dr. L. Rives, and daughter of General Watts, of Roanoke, and since the close of the war period he has resided at Roanoke, where he leads on his farm, "The Barrens," the simple, retired life of a country gentleman.
Thomas M. Southgate, who rendered efficient service to the government of the Confederate States throughout the period of the war, is a native of King and Queen county, of thorough Virginian ancestry and first made his home at Norfolk in 1853, and has ever since been a resident of that city. His Confederate service was rendered mainly in the quartermaster and flag of truce service upon the James river. At the time of the celebrated naval encounter in Hampton Roads, he was master of the steamer William Seldon, which conveyed General Huger and staff to a point whence they could easily witness the fight between the Virginia and the Monitor. Few men are yet living who so fully witnessed and can describe with such accuracy and vividness the details of that famous engagement. Captain Southgate was particularly distinguished for his minute knowledge of the James river and its obstructions in war times, being one of the two men who could safely pilot a vessel through the enemy's torpedoes without injury. It is related that a third man attempted this feat and lost his vessel and came very near losing his own life. His whole career was a hazardous one, made so particularly by the crowds of Federal soldiers who were exchanged in vessels under his command. Since the war he has been continuously in the employment of the Old Dominion steamship company, as master for nearly thirty years of one of the company's vessels in North Carolina and Virginia waters. Thomas S. Southgate, a son of the foregoing, is a native of Richmond, removing to Norfolk in
