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James Albert Cockerill was born at North Fork, Loudon County, Va., July 28, 1840, and died there on January 22, 1920. With the exception of service in the Confederate army, he lived all of his long and useful life near North Fork or in its vicinity. He was the son of John and Keziah Cockerill, and when about nineteen he became a member of the North Fork company of the 132d Virginia Militia. He was attached to the militia until the autumn of 1861, when he enlisted at Leesburg, Loudon County, Va., as a courier in the Confederate army. He was attached to the command of Gen. D. H. Hill and served with it until 1863. While a courier he carried the dispatch which opened the Seven Days' Battles around Richmond, Va. He saw much of the fighting against McClellan, Burnside and Hooker.

In 1863, when Gen. D. H. Hill was ordered South, Comrade Cockerill was transferred to Rode's Division, where he served as a courier and operator in the Signal Corps until the end of the war. He was nominally transferred to Company A, 35th Virginia Battalion of Cavalry. This company was a part of Lije White's command and was from Loudon County, Va., and its commander was Capt. F. M. Myers, from Waterford, Loudon County, Va. White's command was mostly from along the Potomoc River in Northern Virginia and Maryland. While a member of Rode's Division he was present at the battles of Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and in the Shenandoah Valley campaigns.

When the war was over Comrade Cockerill, like most other Confederates, went back home and to work. In 1870 he married Miss Adelia Simpson, of North Fork, Va. Her brother, Benjamin Simpson, was a member of Mosby's Rangers, C. S. A. He is survived by four children, Emily, Cecil, Samuel, and John. He was na ardent Southerner until the end and was fond of relating his experiences in the Confederate army. His body, draped with the Confederate flag was interned at North Fork Cemetery on January 25, 1920. Services were held at the Baptist church, of which he had been a member for about fifty years.