“ Wise was a member of the Virginia secession convention of 1861, and opposed immediate secession. Upon the withdrawal of the State from the Union, however, he joined the Confederate Army as brigadier-general and afterwards was promoted to the rank of major-general. He took part in the campaigns of western Virginia, commanded at Roanoke Island, and was present at Appomattox. After the war he resumed his law practice, and wrote an historical work entitled Seven Decades of the Union (1872) . He died September 12, 1876. Consult his Life, (New York, 1899) , written by his grandson, B. H. Wise. ”