Birkett D. Fry

Birkett Davenport Fry (June 24, 1822 – January 21, 1891) was an American adventurer, soldier, lawyer, cotton manufacturer, and a Confederate brigadier general in the American Civil War. A survivor of four battle wounds, he commanded one of the lead brigades during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Early life Fry was born in Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia) on June 24, 1822. He received his education at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, and attended the United States Military Academy, but did not graduate with the Class of 1846,

Civil War With Alabama's secession from the Union, Fry enlisted in the Confederate army and was appointed colonel of the 13th Alabama Infantry.

Exchanged in the spring of 1864, Fry was briefly assigned to Robert Ransom's Department of Richmond at the beginning of the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, where he was assigned command of Seth Barton's brigade of Virginians, following that general's dismissal after the Battle of Chester Station. Fry was immediately ordered to move this brigade to Richmond to defend the capital against Philip Sheridan's Federal cavalry, which was thwarted at the Battle of Meadow Bridge on May 12. Fry's brigade then returned to Ransom at Drewry's Bluff, who had in the meantime been reinforced by P.G.T. Beauregard's army arriving from North Carolina. Fry's brigade then fought at the Battle of Proctor's Creek.

Fry subsequently rejoined Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and was assigned command of Archer's former brigade in Henry Heth's division of A.P. Hill's Third Corps for the Battle of Cold Harbor. Fry served during the Siege of Petersburg.

During the final months of the war, Fry was placed in command of a military district in South Carolina and Georgia. He did not return to the United States until 1868, when he returned to Tallassee, Alabama, as a businessman. He resided at No. 1, King Street, in a house built for Confederate Officers in charge of the Tallassee Armory.