Walter Gwynn
He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in the Class of 1822[1] and was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S.[3] At the request of the governor, he had accepted the commission and was instrumental in the planning of the attack on Fort Sumter in early 1861 as a member of the Ordnance Board.Working under Gwynn's authority, Mahone (who was still a civilian) helped bluff the Federal troops into abandoning the Gosport Shipyard in Portsmouth by running a single passenger train into Norfolk with great noise and whistle-blowing, then much more quietly, sending it back west, and then returning the same train again, creating the illusion of large numbers of arriving troops to the Federals listening in Portsmouth across the Elizabeth River (and just barely out of sight).The ruse worked, and not a single Confederate soldier was lost as the Union authorities abandoned the area, and retreated to Fort Monroe across Hampton Roads.(Fellow railroader Mahone also joined the Confederate Army, eventually achieving the rank of major general after becoming the so-called 'Hero of the Battle of the Crater,' which took place near Petersburg in 1864.)