A short biography of E. Payson Reeve appears in Confederate Military History, Extended Addition, vol. IV (Virginia), p. 1136. Reeve was born in Hanover county, Virginia on 17 July 1832. As a private, Reeve served as a color bearer in the 1st Virginia Infantry Regiment, and carried the flag into action at Bull Run on 19 July, and at the Battle of Manassas on 21 July [1861]. Reeve was then promoted to Second Lieutenant of Company D in the same regiment. A separate source lists him as First Lieutenant at Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded in Pickett's charge.