 He married Emily Alexander and raised a family.He enlisted in the Confederate States Army on April 20, 1861, and served in Virginia, rising to the rank of captain.On the night of April 7, 1865, in the company of Colonel Heman H. Perry, assistant adjutant general of Moxley Sorrel's brigade, English received the first written communication from Grant to Lee about a surrender, which happened soon after at Appomattox Court House.