John L . Rapier John Lawrence Rapier ( June 15 , 1842 – May 7 , 1905 ) was an American Civil War soldier and businessman . A native of Mobile , Alabama , he saw action as a sergeant major in the Seven Days Battles , and later became a second lieutenant in the Confederate States Marine Corps . He was captured at Fort Gaines , Mobile Bay , Alabama , August 5 , 1864 , and paroled at Nanna Hubba Bluff , Alabama , May 10 , 1865 . After the war , he became the owner of the " Mobile Register " , and served as postmaster of Mobile . Family and early life . Rapier was born in Spring Hill , a suburb of Mobile , Alabama , the son of Thomas Gwynn Rapier and Evalina Senac . His maternal uncle was Confederate Paymaster Felix Senac . He was also related to Angela S . Mallory , wife of Secretary of the Confederate Navy , Stephen R . Mallory . In 1857 he worked as a clerk in New Orleans until the outbreak of the American Civil War . Confederate States service . Rapier was enlisted from Louisiana as a private in Captain Henri St . Paul ' s Company ( Second Company ) of the Louisiana Foot Rifles on April 22 , 1861 . This was later folded into Company A , 7th Battalion , Louisiana Infantry . Their first assignment was Pensacola , Florida , where they arrived on April 28 and stayed until mid - September . They were then transferred to Richmond , Virginia , where they encamped for several months in the vicinity of Centerville . The battalion was then assigned to Brigadier General Richard H . Anderson ' s Brigade on the Virginia Peninsula in May 1862 . Rapier was promoted to Sergeant - Major of the battalion , in which capacity he fought in the Battle of Williamsburg and in the Seven Days battles . During the Battle of Frayser ' s Farm , June 30 , 1862 , part of the Seven Day ' s campaign , he was blinded temporarily by a shell exploding inches from his face . In August , his battalion was divided and his company became Company E of the Confederate States Zouave Battalion , Louisiana Volunteers . On August 12 , this organization became part of Starke ' s Brigade of Taliaferro ' s Division . Rapier continued to serve as sergeant major . He then saw action at the Second Battle of Bull Run , Battle of Antietam and Fredericksburg , before his battalion was transferred to southeastern Virginia . In January , he was promoted to first lieutenant and adjutant of his battalion . In March , it is reported that Secretary Mallory offered him a commission in the Confederate Marine Corps , but Rapier did not initially accept it . However , several weeks later he took the examination , passed and was commissioned as a second lieutenant , dated July 11 , 1863 . On August 1 , he was ordered to report to Secretary Mallory , where he was then assigned to the Marine Camp at Drewry ' s Bluff , James River , Virginia , as part of Company A . He served there briefly until he was ordered on December 22 , 1863 , to report to Admiral Franklin Buchanan , commander of the Mobile Squadron . On arrival on December 28 , he was assigned to the Mobile Marine Barracks . On August 3 , 1864 , Rapier and several fellow marines were ordered to reinforce Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island , Mobile Bay , Alabama , during which time he was made Major W . R . Browne ' s adjutant . Thus he participated in the Battle of Mobile Bay . When the commanding officer of the fort , Colonel Charles D . Anderson , held a council with his officers on August 6 , he revealed a document he wished them to sign , surrendering the fort . Rapier and one other marine , were some of the very few that refused to sign . Rapier was captured on August 8 , 1864 . He later escaped from prison in New Orleans on October 13 , 1864 , by making his way through the swamps and bayou s until he reached Mobile on November 10 . He met up with Captain Fry , a relative , who gave him command of two 32 - pounder guns on the gunboat " Morgan " . He participated in the Battle of Spanish Fort and the Battle of Fort Blakely in April 1865 . He was on this boat until he surrendered on May 4 , 1865 . He was paroled May 10 , 1865 , at Nanna Hubba Bluff , Alabama . After the war . After the war , he married the daughter of a former commander , Regina St . Paul , in 1866 , and after her death , he married Regina Demouy . In 1866 , Rapier took a position at the " Mobile Times " with his father - in - law Major St . Paul . The Times was later consolidated into the " Mobile Register " . He later became part owner , with Colonel John Forsyth , and upon the death of the latter , became the sole owner in 1877 . In December 1894 , President Grover Cleveland appointed him Postmaster of Mobile , which position he held until March 1897 . He was a member of the Catholic Knights of America , and for many years a member of the Striker ' s Independent Society and the Mobile Mardis Gras Society Order of Myths . Rapier died on May 7 , 1905 , in Mobile , and was buried in the Catholic Cemetery .