Richard "Dick" James Ashe (1821-1899) of Hillsborough, NC, was the son of Anna Moore (1795-1882) and Richard Davis (1793-1821) Ashe. He entered the University in 1838, joined the Dialectic Society, and graduated in 1842. He became a merchant and lawyer and married Elisha and Maria Mitchell’s daughter, Mary Phoebe (1822-1903). They were the parents of eight children. On April 6, 1861, he began accepting six-month volunteers into the Orange Light Infantry, and by April 22, 107 men had joined (Vickers 63). The troops marched to Raleigh, where they became Company D of the First North Carolina Regiment, which saw action in the first significant battle of the Civil War, the Battle at Big Bethel near Yorktown, VA, on June 10, 1861. In 1868 Capt. Ashe moved his family to California, where he served in the General Assembly (Vickers 63-65).