In 1861, Cheek was a lawyer in North Carolina serving in the legislature. He resigned his legislative seat in order to raise a military company, Company E of the First NC Cavalry. Cheek was commissioned as captain on May 16, 1861. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on September 28, 1863 and then to colonel on October 17, 1863. Cheek was wounded at Goodall's Tavern, NC on May 11, 1864, and was sick in hospital in Richmond, VA in August 1864. He was captured at Burkesville Junction in Nottoway County, VA in April 1865 and sent first to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC and then to the POW camp at Johnson's Island, OH, where he was released July 25, 1865 after taking the oath of allegiance.
After the war, he returned to the family farm in North Carolina, then became a businessman in Norfolk, VA, and settled in 1882 in Henderson, NC, where he returned to practicing law. Cheek died March 23, 1901.
No comments:
Post a Comment