Brigadier General John Echols was born March 20, 1823, at Lynchburg, Va., and was educated at the Virginia Military Institute, Washington College and Harvard College. He enjoyed a successful law practice in Staunton, Virginia. Echols was a tall man, standing 6 feet 4 inches, and was an outstanding leader. He displayed a prominent role in the Virginia convention of 1861, and volunteered to serve in the army. He was promptly commissioned lieutenant colonel and ordered by General Lee to recruit the volunteer forces in the vicinity of Staunton, Virginia, for Johnston's army. He was assigned to the Twenty-seventh Virginia Infantry Regiment and commanded the unit at the Battle of First Manassas (aka First Bull Run). The unit was one of the five regiments attached to a brigade commanded by Gen. Thomas Jonathan Jackson. It was at the Battle of First Manassas that the brigade displayed valor in combat and earned the distinctive title of the "Stonewall Brigade." He was afterwards promoted colonel and served with "Stonewall" Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley through the winter and spring of 1861-62. In “Stonewall” Jackson's report of the Battle of Kernstown, he stated that "Col. John Echols with his regiment, with skirmishers thrown forward, kept in advance and opened the infantry engagement, in which it was supported by the Twenty-first. Well did these two regiments do their duty, driving back the enemy twice in quick succession. Soon a severe wound compelled the noble leader of the Twenty-seventh to leave the field." This wound was received on March 23, 1862, and temporarily disabled Echols. His gallantry was recognized and he was promoted to brigadier general in April 1862. Within a few months, he was assigned to command a brigade in the Army of Western Virginia, where he served with distinction. As a brigade commander, he participated in Gen. Loring's occupation of the Kanawha Valley in September 1862. After Loring had withdrawn to the mountains, Echols was assigned to the command of the army of the Department of Western Virginia. He promptly reoccupied Charleston, but was again compelled to retire before superior forces. He resigned his command in the spring of 1863, and during the following summer served at Richmond's court of inquiry to investigate Vicksburg's defeat. He commanded the Confederate forces in the Battle of Droop Mountain, West Virginia; a hard-fought contest, in which his command, though forced to retire, gave an effectual check to the Federal army. In May 1864, he commanded Breckinridge's right wing at the successful Battle of New Market, in the Shenandoah Valley. He transferred with his brigade to Lee's army on the Cold Harbor line, where he again served with distinction. On August 22, 1864, he was honored as commander of the District of Southwestern Virginia, and on March 29, 1865, was ordered to the command of the Western Department of Virginia, relieving General Breckinridge. On April 2, he began a march to unite with Lee and reached Christiansburg on April 10, where he received a telegram announcing Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. It was a terrible blow to his reduced army of between 6,000 and 7,000 men, and caused indescribable consternation. At a council of war it was determined that his command would unite with Johnston's army; Echol's army advanced on April 11. Subsequently, he accompanied President Davis to Augusta, Ga. After the Civil War, he resumed his law practice at Staunton and was a member of the Virginia state legislature. He was a key member on the Committee of Nine, a group of state leaders that worked towards Virginia's readmittance into the Union. He was a member of Stonewall Jackson Camp of Confederate veterans, at Staunton; Echols remained faithful to the soldiers of the Confederacy. He continued to be very successful in law and business, and displayed great executive ability. He became president of the Staunton National Valley bank and receiver and general manager of the Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern Railroad. The duties of the latter position required Echols to reside in Kentucky. He was twice married, first to a sister of Senator Allen T. Caperton, of West Virginia, and after her death he married Mrs. Mary Cochrane Reid, of New York. He resided in Kentucky for ten years and died at the residence of his son, State Senator Edward Echols, at Staunton, on May 24, 1896.

Sources: Evans, Clement A., Confederate Military History, 1899; Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959; Virginia Military Institute (VMI).