Placed in command of the most important of the Southern departments at Fredericksburg, the "gateway to the South," he organized and equipped a small army. When the Confederacy found that they had no gun caps, necessary on the old "muzzle loaders," and no copper from which to make caps, General Ruggles invented a cap made from raw hide and dried in the sun (specimens are in the National Museum), which were used by the whole Southern Army during the first three months of the war. [Illustration: OLD "CHATHAM" _One of the Most Characteristic of All Virginia Colonial Mansions_] General Ruggles planted artillery and, using these caps with match heads to explode them, drove off the Union gunboats and a lading force at Aquia Creek May 31, 1861, nine days before "Big Bethel", and weeks after Virginia seceded. He thus fought and won the first battle of the Civil war. His career during the war won him wide recognition. His movements won the battle of Shiloh through finding a weak point in the enemy's line. He was made Major General March 25, 1865, and surrendered at Augusta, Ga., after Appomattox. Although he fought in five Indian wars, the Mexican war and the Civil war, from the start to finish, and was recognized as a man who would lead his men anywhere, he never received a wound of any kind in his life. Many people in Fredericksburg remember him now, with his fine face, his erect figure and his long gray whiskers. In his latter days some people laughed at him, not understanding that there was genius in the man, because of his first experience with "rainmaking." He invented the method which is used now by the United States Government, under his patent. He earned the name of "raincrow" which sometimes reached his ears. He patented the first propeller which was ever used on a steam boat (model in the National Museum). He also invented the first principles of the telephone. He invented in 1858 a system whereby an electric bell on a ship would ring on the approach of the ship to any rock or point on the shore equipped with the same apparatus. This was tested by the navy and proclaimed impractical, but it contained the principles of wireless telegraphy. It is used by the American navy today. JOHN ROGER CLARK, EXPLORER