Joined Confederate Army, as a private, Aug. 7, 1861; was promoted to 1st Lt., Co. I, 8th Infantry, Miss. Regiment, on Aug. 29, 1864. Came to Texas in 1868, settled in Lampasas County as a rancher and farmer; married Elizabeth Rawson, and had seven children. On July 19, 1911, at Chadwick's Mill, on the Colorado River, at age 73, Stokes rescued Lillie B. Evetts, Eva Foster, and R. Ashley Greaves from drowning. For the feat, he received a Carnegie Hero Medal. Recorded - 1973