Brigadier General Raleigh Edward Colston, P.A.C.S.
Brigadier General Raleigh Edward Colston was born at Paris, France, of
Virginia parentage, October 31, 1825. When seventeen years old he came
to America with a passport, as a citizen of the United States, issued by
Minister Carr, and entering the Virginia military institute, was graduated in
1846. He remained at the institute as a professor until April, 1861, when
he marched to Richmond in command of the corps of cadets. In May he
was commissioned colonel of the Sixteenth Virginia regiment of infantry at
Norfolk, and was later assigned to command of a brigade and a district on
the south side of the James river, with headquarters at Smithfield. He was
promoted brigadier-general December 24, 1861. In the spring of 1862 he
moved his brigade, composed of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth North
Carolina and Third Virginia regiments, to Yorktown, and participated in the
defense of that post, and after the retreat to Williamsburg, in the battle
there and at Seven Pines. He was then disabled by illness until December,
1862, when he was assigned to command of a brigade in the department
of Southern Virginia and North Carolina, and from January to March, 1863,
was in command at Petersburg. After the battle of Fredericksburg he was
assigned, at Stonewall Jackson's request, to the Third brigade of Jackson's
old division, and previous to the battle of Chancellorsville was given
command of the division, which was distinguished for heroism on the 2d
and 3d of May, participating, under his command, in the onslaught made in
the evening of Saturday, and fighting desperately during the storm of battle
which swayed to and fro over the Federal works on Sunday morning. On
Sunday afternoon he made an advance toward the United States ford, in
which his division suffered severely. His division lost at Chancellorsville
1,860 men out of about 6,000, including 8 brigade commanders, 3 of
whom were killed. General Colston rendered especially valuable services in
rallying the men under the terrific fire of the enemy's artillery, after Jackson
fell, and again on Sunday morning after the Federal forces had reoccupied
their intrenchments. In the latter part of May, on account of the objection
of the colonels of North Carolina regiments to service under a Virginia
brigade commander, General Lee put a Marylander, George H. Steuart, in
command, and General Colston was ordered to report to General Cooper at
Richmond. In October he was assigned to command at Savannah, Ga. In
April, 1864, he returned to Virginia, and was assigned by General [Henry
Alexander] Wise to provisional command at Petersburg. On the night
of June 8th-9th, the lines were threatened by the Federal cavalry, and the
alarm bells called out the home guards, old men and boys, the regular
troops having been transferred to Lee's army. Immediately offering his
services to General Wise he was ordered to take command on the line of
lunettes, which then constituted the major part of the defenses, with the
injunction to hold out until Wise cold bring up his reserves. Colston joined
Major Archer, who had less than 200 at the point attacked, and skillfully
directed the desperate defense, holding his position until almost surrounded,
when he made an orderly retreat, in which he seized a musket and fought
with his men. The time gained by this gallant resistance enabled Graham's
battery and Dearing's cavalry to come up in time to rout the Federal
column, which was about to occupy the city. In July, General Colston was
assigned to command of the post at Lynchburg, where he remained until the
surrender. Subsequently he was engaged in lecturing and in the conduct of
a military academy at Wilmington, N.C., until 1873, when he entered the
military service of the Khedive of Egypt, in which he remained until 1879,
meanwhile conducting two important exploring expeditions to the Soudan
[sic]. During his last expedition he was paralyzed, and was carried hundreds
of miles across the desert on a litter. Returning to Virginia he engaged in
literary work and lecturing, and from 1882 to 1894 held a position in the
war department at Washington. He passed the remainder of his days in the
Soldiers' home at Richmond, and died July 29, 1896.
Source: Evans, Clement, Confederate Military History, Volume
III, Confederate Publishing Company, Atlanta, GA, 1899.
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