OTEY, COL. KIRKWOOD
COL. KIRKWOOD OTEY; Was born in Lynchburg, October 19, 1829; was graduated at the Virginia Military Institute in July, 1849; enlisted in the same year in the Virginia Volunteer Militia, serving until April 23, 1861, when he was mustered into service at Richmond as First Lieutenant of Company 11th regiment, C. S.A.. He served through the war, rising to the command of the regiment, and was twice severely wounded: first, in the last day's fighting at Gettysburg, in the famous charge of Pickett's Division; again at Drury’s Bluff, May 16, 1864, the latter wound permanently disabling him from active service in the field. After the close of the war he assisted in the reorganization of the Lynch burg Home Guards, the company with which he entered service in the war becoming Company E, 3d Virginia Regiment. With this he has ever since been connected, and is now captain, constituting altogether, except two brief intervals, an almost uninterrupted military service of forty-three years. He is present commander of Camp Samuel Garland, Confederate Veterans, of Lynchburg. Col. Otey is serving as auditor of the city of Lynchburg at the present time. He married, February 19, 1862, Lucy Dabney Norvell, daughter of Fayette H. and Mary C. (Roane) Norvell, born at Trenton, Tennessee, January 14, 1845. They have three children living: John M., born February 5, 1866; Norvell, born .November 17, 1872; Kirkwood, Jr., born March 3, 1884. Their first-born was a daughter, Mina Gaston, born February 23, 1863, died on August 12. The paternal grandfather of Col. Otey was Major Isaac Otey, of Bedford county, Virginia, who ably represented that tier of counties of which Bedford is one, in the Senate of Virginia for thirty years. The family of Col. Otey was of essentially military stock adding well-earned laurels for the name in the late war. Of seven brothers and the only brother-in-law in the family, all entered the Confederate States Army at its first call for troops, and served through the war, or were killed or died in the service. An extract from a Lynchburg paper published in the spring of 1861, the article entitled "A Military Family, shows this and is worthy of perpetuation here.”

It reads:
The family of the late Capt. John M. Otey of Lynchburg are all in military active service, as follows: Dexter Otey, first lieutenant of a cavalry company, Lynchburg; Van. R. Otey, member of the same company; John Stewart Walker (son-in-law), captain of the Virginia Life Guards, at Yorktown; Kirk Otey, captain of a Lynchburg company at Manassas Junction; Hays Otey first lieutenant in provisional army at Norfolk; Gaston Otey, first lieutenant in provisional army at Yorktown; John M. Otey, second lieutenant in provisional army under Col. Cocke at Manassas; Peter J. Otey, second lieutenant provisional army at Sewell’s Point, fired the first gun in response to the salutations of Lincoln's vessels. All of these gentlemen, we believe, have the advantage of a military education, one served in Mexico, and four were at Harpers Ferry and Charlestown. We may mention the fact that twenty years ago, Captain John M. Otey, father of the seven above named, and father-in-law of the other, at a time of profound peace, and when there was an absence of all military spirit, expressed the opinion that the boy who made himself the best soldier would be likely to find the most ready and useful employment before he had passed the maturity of manhood. Fie confirmed it by graduating five of them at the Virginia Military Institute, and to deprived by death of the pleasure and gratification it would have given him, his widow lived to see every one of them in the active military service of her beloved Southern country, not even detailing one of them to remain at home as her "Safe-Guard."
The further service in the field of Col. Kirkwood Otey has just been given; that of Major Peter J. Otey is in the sketch following this. Of the others the record is: Dexter, lieutenant in the Wise troop, died in 1863; Van. R., lieutenant Company B, 2d Virginia Cavalry, rendered unfit for field service by sickness contracted in army, made provost marshal at Lynchburg, and died in 1864; Gaston, captain of the Otey Battery, wounded and died in Lynchburg in 1863; W. H. (Hays), adjutant of the 56th Virginia regiment, subsequently captain of ordnance; Col. John M., on staff duty, assigned to Gen. Beauregard's staff at Manassas in 1861, served with him until after battle of Shiloh, subsequently with Gens. Bragg and Joseph K. Johnston in their western campaigns, returned to Gen. Beauregard it Charleston, and surrendered a t Greensboro, N.C., in 1865 and paroled by Gen. Sherman. Major John Stewart Walker (Col. Otey's brother-in-law raised and chiefly on of his private means armed and equipped, the Virginia Life Guards of Richmond, was promoted major of the Virginia Infantry, and was in command of his regiment when killed in battle of Malvern Hill. The devoted mother of this family, Mrs. Lucy W. Otey, rendered service not less to he commemorated. She established, organized, and managed the Ladies' Confederate Hospital at Lynchburg (which was independent of the Confederate States Medical Department there), reporting direct to the Surgeon General’s office, Richmond, Virginia. It was well known throughout the Confederacy through those who had been inmates thereof, and was in great measure maintained by those officers and soldiers who had experienced the kind attention, care and nursing of the officers and ladies of the hospital.
John M. Otey, father of Col. Kirkwood Otey, was born Dec. 2, 1792, in Bedford County, Virginia, and died in Lynchburg, Feb. 3, I8.")9. He removed to Lynchburg at an early age, and was successively the Book-keeper, Teller and Cashier of the Bank of Virginia at that place, holding the latter position at his death. Was for 21 years a member of the City Council and for 18 years its president. His wife Mrs. Lucy Wilhelmina Otey, daughter of Capt. William Norvell was born Feb. 28, 1801, and died in May, 1866, in Richmond, Virginia.
[Source: Virginia and Virginians: History of Volume 2; by Robert Alonzo Brock, Virgil Anson Lewis; publ. 1888; transcribed by Andrea Pack]