Of the many distinguished men that fought in the Confederate army there were few who had so short and so brilliant a career as Turner Ashby. Having entered the service of Virginia on the 19th day of April 1861, as captain of a company of cavalry, Ashby soon rose by rapid promotion to the rank of brigadier-general, being in command of all the cavalry in the Army of the Valley at the time of his death, June 6, 1862. Thus, in a period of less than fourteen months he had reached a post of distinction that has given him a noteworthy place in the history of his State and has established his fame as one of the heroic characters of the age in which he lived. At the time of his death few men in either army had attracted more notice in poetry and prose than had Turner Ashby. His manly character and heroic deeds, his knightly bearing and chivalric courage, surrounded his exploits with a halo of romance and aroused an admiration that few men have ever excited. In his spirit and type he represented the heroic age of the Civil War, and in his personal daring and dashing leadership he exemplified methods of warfare that have always attracted the notice of mankind; and short as was his career, his name will long live among the brilliant and picturesque characters that have surrounded war with its romance and heroism.
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