Alfred Moore Scales Alfred Moore Scales ( November 26 , 1827 – February 9 , 1892 ) was a North Carolina state legislator , Confederate general in the American Civil War and the 45th Governor of the US state of North Carolina from 1885 to 1889 , and Congressman . Early life . Scales was born at Reidsville , in Rockingham County , North Carolina . His parents , Dr . and Mrs . Robert H . Scales , were strong believers in education . After attending a Presbyterian school , the Caldwell institute and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Scales entered teaching for a time . Later , he studied law with Judge William H . Battle and Judge Settle and then opened a law office in Madison , North Carolina . Pre - War public service . Scales was elected county solicitor in 1852 . He was elected four times to the North Carolina state legislature and served as chairman of the Finance Committee . In 1854 he ran a close but unsuccessful race as the Democratic candidate for United States Congress in a Whig district . In 1857 he was elected to Congress but was defeated for re - election two years later . From 1858 until the spring of 1861 he held the office of clerk and master of the court of equity of Rockingham County . In 1860 he was an elector for the Breckinridge ticket and subsequently involved in the debate over North Carolina ' s secession . Civil War service . Early military service . All of Alfred Scales ' s Civil War service was with Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia . Soon after the call for troops from Washington he volunteered as a private in the North Carolina service , but was at once elected captain of his company , H of the 13th North Carolina Infantry Regiment , and was elected to succeeded General William Dorsey Pender as colonel on November 14 , 1862 . He was engaged at Yorktown and the Battle of Williamsburg in the Peninsula Campaign , and in the Seven Days Battles near Richmond . After Malvern Hill , he collapsed from exhaustion and came near to death . His superior , Brig . Gen . Samuel Garland , Jr . , said in his report that Scales was " conspicuous for his fine bearing . Seizing the colors of his regiment at a critical moment at Cold Harbor and advancing to the front , he called on the 13th to stand to them , thus restoring confidence and keeping his men in position . " It took him until November to recuperate so he missed the battles of both Second Manassas and Antietam , but returned in time for the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville . During the winter of 1862 – 63 , the 35 - year - old colonel married 18 - year old Kate Henderson . She was the daughter of a prominent family from Gaston County , North Carolina . At Fredericksburg , in December 1862 , Scales temporarily took command of the brigade after General Pender fell wounded . Pender turned over the command during a Federal assault , saying to him , " Drive those scoundrels out " . Scales promptly ordered Major C . C . Cole of the 22nd North Carolina to dislodge the enemy , which A . P . Hill reported was " handsomely done . " Scales again served with distinction during the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 , where he was wounded in the thigh , continuing on the field until loss of blood forced him to leave . It was to his regiment that General Pender said , " I have nothing to say to you but to hold you all up as models in duty , courage and daring . " In his official report Pender referred to Colonel Scales as " a man as gallant as is to be found in the service . " Gettysburg Campaign . While at home , recovering from his wound , he was promoted to brigadier general on June 13 , 1863 , and upon his return was assigned to the command of Pender ' s old brigade when Pender was promoted to the command of A . P . Hill ' s Light Division . In the first day ' s fight at Gettysburg with Pender ' s Division , it was the attack of his brigade that helped pave the way for Abner M . Perrin ' s Brigade to break through the Union line on Seminary Ridge and force the enemy to retreat toward Cemetery Hill . During this attack , Scales ' s Brigade suffered heavy casualties . He personally fought with great gallantry , and was severely wounded in the leg by a shell fragment on Seminary Ridge . Every field officer of his brigade was killed or wounded save two , and his brigade , already sadly reduced by its terrible sacrifices at Chancellorsville , lost in nearly 550 men out of the 1 , 350 engaged . On the second day at Gettysburg , the brigade was only engaged in skirmishing , but in the third day ' s battle , it participated in the famous Pickett ' s Charge . Half of the General Pender ' s division , James Lane ' s and Scales ' s brigades , advanced in the charge with Pickett ' s and Pettigrew ' s Divisions . Since Pender had been wounded , his two brigades in the charge were placed under the command of Major General Isaac R . Trimble . Due to Scales ' s wounding , his brigade was commanded during the charge by Colonel William Lee J . Lowrance . Elements of this brigade were among the Confederates to advance farthest in the gallant but unsuccessful charge . With General Pender at his side , Scales rode back to Virginia in an ambulance , and after being left at Winchester , he recovered enough from his wounds to be returned to service however , General Pender died from his wounds . Military service after Gettysburg . After returning to service upon the apparent recovery from his wound , Scales participated in the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia during 1864 including the Wilderness , Spotsylvania Court House , and the Siege of Petersburg . Due to his previous wounds being unhealed , Scales took a leave of absence late in the war , and was at home in North Carolina when the army surrendered at Appomattox Court House . There is no record that the general was ever formally paroled , but he applied for amnesty at Raleigh on June 22 , 1865 , and was pardoned on June 18 , 1866 . Post - War public service . After the war , Scales returned to the practice of law , a profession in which he gained great distinction . In 1874 he was elected to the Forty - fourth Congress , and was re - elected to the four succeeding congresses . In 1884 , he was elected Governor of North Carolina by a majority of over twenty thousand votes . Upon the expiration of his term as governor in 1888 he retired permanently from political life , repeatedly refusing to run again for Congress . In 1888 Scales left the governorship and was elected president of the Piedmont Bank at Greensboro , and served as its president until he died . Scales was never in good health after leaving the governorship in 1888 . His condition was diagnosed as Bright ' s disease , causing his brain to become so affected that during the last months of his life , he was only conscious for short intervals . He died in Greensboro and was buried there at the Green Hill Cemetery . Alfred Scales was greatly beloved and respected by all . Noted historian Douglas S . Freeman , in discussing eight promotions to brigadier general Lee needed to make after Chancellorsville said , " One promotion was a matter of course . . . . " and then mentioned Scales first of the eight . At the time of his death all the businesses in Greensboro closed and the entire city turned out to attend his funeral . His family life was always pleasant . He was survived by his wife , Kate , and his daughter , Mrs . John Noble Wyllie .