Raleigh E. Colston

Raleigh Edward Colston (October 1, 1825 – July 29, 1896) was a French-born American professor, soldier, cartographer, and writer. He was a controversial brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Colston was among a handful of former Confederates who served in Egypt following the war.

Early life and career

Born in Paris, France, he was the son of Maria Theresa, Duchess of Valmy, the divorced wife of one of Napoleon's marshals. She married Dr. Raleigh Edward Colston, who adopted the boy and renamed him. In 1842, young Colston was sent to study in the United States, living with an uncle in Berkeley County, Virginia.

He entered the Virginia Military Institute in 1843 and graduated July 4, 1846, fourth in a class of fourteen. Following his graduation, Colston taught French and military science at VMI. He married Louise Meriwether Bowyer; the couple would have two daughters, Mary Frances and Louise Elizabeth. [ VMI alumni archives.]

Professor Colston and a group of VMI cadets served as guards during the November 1859 execution of abolitionist firebrand John Brown following his unsuccessful raid on Harper's Ferry.

Civil War

With Virginia's secession in early 1861, Colston was commissioned as the colonel of the 16th Virginia Infantry. Colston commanded the Confederate district across from Newport News during the historic 1862 battle between the USS "Monitor" and CSS "Virginia".

On December 24, 1861, Colston was appointed as a brigadier general. He served under James Longstreet in the Peninsula Campaign in mid-1862, leading three regiments. His performance at the Battle of Seven Pines elicited criticism. Becoming ill from exposure, Colston left the Army of Northern Virginia until December.

In April 1863, he led a brigade under Stonewall Jackson. At the Battle of Chancellorsville a month later, he was in charge of a full division of infantry, but was reassigned shortly after the battle for losing control of his troops.

Colston served under Pierre G. T. Beauregard in 1864 in the Siege of Petersburg. In early 1865, he was in command of the defense of Lynchburg, Virginia, guarding one of the Confederacy's last open railroads. [Evans, Clement, "Confederate Military History". Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899.]

Postbellum

Colston established a pair of military schools, including one in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 1873, he was hired by the Khedive of Egypt, Isma'il Pasha, as a professor of geology and a colonel in the military. He surveyed and mapped several previously uncharted deserts along the Nile River in the Sudan. Colston was badly injured by a fall from a camel and had to be carried across the desert for several weeks on a litter, during which time he expected to die and, as a result, wrote his will. He was partially paralyzed for nearly a year and suffered life-long lingering aftereffects.

In 1879, he returned to the United States, where he lectured and wrote several magazine articles on his experiences in North Africa and in the Civil War. Despite being crippled, he worked as a clerk and translator in the U.S. War Department and Surgeon General's office from 1882–94.

He lived the rest of his life as an invalid in the Confederate Soldiers' Home in Richmond, Virginia, where he died penniless. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, not far from fellow Virginia general George Pickett.

In popular media

Actor J. Scott Watkins portrayed General Colston in the 2003 Civil War film "Gods and Generals".

Publications

* [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABP2287-0029-164 "Watching the Merrimac"] , "Century" Magazine, Vol. 29, issue 5, March 1885.
* [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABP2287-0029-153 "The Land of the False Prophet"] , "Century" Magazine, Vol. 29, issue 5, March 1885.
* [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABP2287-0028-208 "The Rescue of Chinese Gordon"] , "Century" Magazine, Vol. 28, issue 5, September 1884.

References

* [http://www.vmi.edu/archives.aspx?id=5601 VMI biography]
* [http://members.tripod.com/~jweaver300/colston.htm Biography in "Confederate Military History"]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198405/the.khedive.s.cartographers.htm Cartographers in Egypt]
* [http://www.multied.com/Bio/CWcGENS/CSAColston.html Colston biography]
* [http://egypt.atomicmartinis.com/colston.htm Americans in the Egyptian Army]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9860 Find-a-Grave]
* [http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/c/Colston,Raleigh_Edward.html Colston Papers at UNC]