sentences:  He was graduated at the University of North Carolina, admitted to the bar, and practiced for a time in his native town.Removing in 1855 to Alexandria, Louisiana, he took up his permanent residence there and built up a large practice.He was sent to the Secession convention of 1861 as a state-rights Democrat, and when the convention adjourned was elected a lieutenant in a Louisiana Confederate regiment, he served with the rank of lieutenant-colonel on the staff of Governor Moore, and in 1863 was appointed adjutant-general of the state, with the rank of brigadier-general.