Colin McRae Selph

He was a student at the University of Virginia 1856-58, and then studied law in Mobile, AL from 1858-59. He was in Mobile when he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant, CSA on 16 March 1861 and assigned to the staff of Brigadier General A.H. Gladden in April. He was appointed Lieutenant and Assistant Quartermaster (AQM) on 3 May in Richmond, reporting to Major W. L. Cabell, Brigadier General J.E. Johnston's Quartermaster, and was at First Manassas on 27 July. He was assigned as AQM to the Washington Artillery on 15 February 1862 and was with them for the rest of 1862. He was appointed Captain and AQM on 15 July.

He was AQM of the Washington Artillery on the Maryland Campaign.

He was on Major General J.H. Forney's staff and was captured with him at Vicksburg, MS in July 1863. He was assigned as Captain and Acting Assistant Inspector General to General Brigadier General J.H. Winder, Provost Marshal General in Richmond, on 20 November 1863, then to Brigadier General R.H. Chilton, Inspector General of the Army of Northern Virginia, on 27 May 1864. He was paroled at Greensboro, NC in April 1865.

By 1880 and to at least 1900 he was a lawyer in New Orleans. He had retired there and lived with his son Alex in 1910, but was practicing again by 1920, when he lived with daughter Sarah.

His service from Staff Officers 1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1880-1920. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Mary Elizabeth Dimitry (1842-1902) in Richmond, VA in December 1862 and they had 7 children.

See more about the story of the origin of the Confederate battle flag and Lt. Selph's role, in The Pink Confederate Battle Flags by Bryan Cheeseboro on Emerging Civil War.

09/02/1839; Mississippi CIty, MS

01/06/1926; New Orleans, LA; burial in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, LA