four companies of cavalry that afterward formed a part of the Fifteenth regiment of Virginia cavalry, of which he was appointed, at first, major and afterward lieutenant-colonel. He served until near the close of the war, when he resigned his commission and returned to his home. He participated in many of the cavalry raids under command of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, and in the famous cavalry battle of Trevilian Station. At the battle of Chancellorsville he commanded the only cavalry regiment on the right of General Lee's army, and at Cold Harbor was in command of a brigade of cavalry. Near Leedstown, in 1863, he was betrayed into the hands of the enemy, and after a confinement at the Old Capitol prison, was sent to Johnson's island, Ohio, where he was a prisoner of war during ten months; finally securing his release through the intercession of his personal friend, Gen. John C. Fremont. At the close of the war Colonel Critcher resumed the practice of law, and was appointed by the governor of Virginia to the position of judge of the tenth judicial circuit, which he held for three years and until removed under the operation of the "thirty day resolution" of Congress, the effect of which was to vacate all official positions occupied by citizens of southern States who had held office prior to the war. He was then elected to Congress from the First Virginia district, and subsequently to the State senate. He also held for some time the office of commonwealth's attorney, in which he had served prior to 1861. At the expiration of his term as senator he established a home at Washington City, and engaged in the practice of his profession. Of recent years, his son has been associated with him. The honors conferred upon him by the people of his county and district attest the estimation in which he is held as a lawyer and a public man. His military service, both as a private and field officer, was characterized by the same devotion and energy that have marked his career in the various positions of civil life.
The Cromwell family of Maryland is one of the old families of that State, tracing its ancestry back to the family of the great protector, Oliver Cromwell. It gave a number of excellent soldiers to the Confederate armies. The sheriff of Norfolk county, Va., A. C. Cromwell, born in Maryland, the son of Randolph Smith and Elizabeth Benson (Stewart) Cromwell, is a worthy present day representative of this patriotic family. He came to Virginia in 1871, and, locating opposite the navy yard, was for twenty-one years very successfully engaged in the trucking business. In 1891, and again in 1895, he was elected sheriff of the county, and on account of this he removed his residence to the city of Norfolk. He is prominent in politics and has been a member of every Democratic State convention during the past twelve years. In 1876 he was married to Alice A. Griffith, of Norfolk county.
Thomas H. Cross, a prominent citizen of Norfolk, who has for several years held the position of deputy United States marshal for the eastern district of Virginia, was born in Nansemond county, October 11, 1841. He is a member of an old Virginia family which has made an honorable record. His father, who bore the name of Hardy Cross, one which has descended through many generations, was born September 7, 1777, and died September 12, 1858. He was colonel of a Virginia regiment in the war of 1812, was a member of the Virginia State legislature from Nansemond county
