Served as a Confederate officer during the War Between the States being twice wounded, one resulting in the amputation of his leg!
Legh Wilber Reid, was born near Brentsville, Va., on April 15, 1833. He graduated #2 in the Virginia Military Institute class of 1858, thus one of his professors would have been Thomas J. Jackson, soon to be immortalized as "Stonewall" Jackson. A civil engineer by occupation, Reid was General Superintendent of the Great Kanawha Coal & Oil Co. Upon the outbreak of the War Between the States, he was appointed a Lieutenant in the Provisional Army of Virginia, and sent into the Kanawha Valley to recruit. He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the 36th Virginia Infantry, on July 16, 1861, and was later detached to command the 50th Virginia Infantry at Fort Donelson, Tenn., where he was wounded in action on February 15, 1862. On September 1, 1862, he joined the 27th Virginia Battalion, which later became the 25th Virginia Cavalry, and was appointed adjutant of the regiment on September 15, 1862. He was severely wounded in action on October 8, 1862, near Woodstock, Va., resulting in the amputation of his left leg. He applied to be Colonel of a Negro regiment in March 1865, and was paroled at Lynchburg, Va., on April 15, 1865. After the war he worked for the Virginia Midland Railroad; was Assistant Registrar, of the U.S. Treasury, in President Cleveland's first administration; was Trustee of the Lee Memorial Association; served as President of the Charlottesville & Rapidan Railroad; and was a member of the Board of Alderman in Alexandria, Va. He died at Alexandria, on November 26, 1908, and is buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery, Alexandria, Va.
Cover From V.M.I. Cadet: 5 3/8 x 3, addressed in ink by Cadet Reid to his mother, Mrs. James H. Reid, Alexandria, Virginia. Signed at the top, Charge, Cadet L.W. Reid. PAID 3, and C.D.S., Lexington, Va., Jul. 21 are stamped in blue. Light age toning and wear. Very fine. Very desirable V.M.I. and Confederate related item!
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