Birkett D. Fry

Birkett Davenport Fry (June 24, 1822 – January 21, 1891) was an adventurer, soldier, lawyer, cotton manufacturer, and a Confederate brigadier general in the American Civil War. A survivor of four battle wounds, he commanded one of the lead brigades during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Early life Fry was born in Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia) on June 24, 1822. He received his education at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, and attended the United States Military Academy, but did not graduate with the Class of 1846, having failed mathematics and been subsequently dismissed. He then returned to his native Virginia to study law. He resumed his interest in the military with the outbreak of the Mexican–American War, serving as a first lieutenant of voltigeurs (skirmishers). Following the war, Fry moved to California as a "Forty-Niner." Fry practiced law in Sacramento City and was elected Justice of the Peace, Fourth Ward in 1852. In October 1856, he accompanied the filibusterer, William Walker, during his expedition to Nicaragua as a colonel (and later general) in Walker's mercenary army. Fry returned to California, living there until 1859 when he moved to Alabama and engaged in cotton manufacturing. Fry had married Martha MiCou, whose family were among the owners of the cotton mills in Tallassee, Alabama. Civil War With Alabama's secession from the Union, Fry enlisted in the Confederate army and was appointed colonel of the 13th Alabama Infantry. The regiment was transported to Virginia and as part of Brig. Gen. James J. Archer's Brigade (which belonged to A. P. Hill's famous Light Division) fought in the Peninsula Campaign. Colonel Fry was wounded in action at the Battle of Seven Pines. He recovered in time to command his regiment during the Second Manassas Campaign and thereafter in Maryland in the fighting at Antietam, where he was again wounded, suffering a shattered arm.