{⋆★⋆} MG Pender, William Dorsey

William Dorsey Pender​

Born: February 6, 1834

Birthplace: Edgecombe County, North Carolina

Father: James Pender 1786 – 1873

(Buried: Horne Cemetery, Edgecombe County, North Carolina)​

Mother: Sally Routh 1791 – 1871

(Buried: Horne Cemetery, Edgecombe County, North Carolina)​

Wife: Mary Frances Shepherd 1840 – 1922

(Buried: Cavalry Church Cemetery, Tarboro, North Carolina)​

Children:

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Samuel Turner Pender 1859 – 1897​

(Buried: Bellview Cemetery, Lenoir, North Carolina)​

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William Dorsey Pender Jr. 1861 – 1920​

(Buried: Cavalry Church Cemetery, Tarboro, North Carolina)​

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Stephen Lee Pender 1863 – 1937​

(Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Norfolk, Virginia)​

Education:

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1854: Graduated from West Point Military Academy – (19th​ in class)​

Occupation before War:

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1854: Brevet 2nd​ Lt. in Untied States Army Artillery​

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1854 – 1855: Served in the fighting against the Seminole Indians​

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1854 – 1855: 2nd​ Lt. in United States Army, 2nd​ Artillery​

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1855 – 1858: 2nd​ Lt. in United States Army, 1st​ Dragons​

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1856: Frontier Duty at Fort Thorn, New Mexico​

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1856: Served in the skirmish at Almagre Mountain, New Mexico​

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1856 – 1857: Frontier Duty at Fort Tejon, California​

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1857: Frontier Duty at Fort Walla Walla, Washington​

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1857: Frontier Duty at Fort Dalles, Oregon​

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1857 – 1858: Frontier Duty at Fort Vancouver Washington​

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1858: Served in the Spokane Expedition​

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1858 – 1861: 1st​ Lt. United States Army Dragons​

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1858: Participated in the Battle of Four Lakes​

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1858 – 1861: Frontier Duty in Washington & Oregon​

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1861: Resigned from United States Army on March 21st​​

Civil War Career:

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1861: Captain of Confederates States Army Artillery​

1861: Colonel of 3rd​ North Carolina Infantry Regiment​

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1861 – 1862: Colonel of 6th​ North Carolina Infantry Regiment​

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1862: Participated in the Battle of Seven Pines​

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1862 – 1863: Brigadier General of Confederate Army Infantry​

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1862: Wounded during the Battle of Glendale​

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1862: Participated in the Battle of Cedar Mountain​

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1862: Wounded in head during Second Battle of Bull Run​

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1862: Participated in the Battle of Harper's Ferry​

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1862: Participated in the Battle of Antietam​

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1862: Wounded in left arm during Battle of Fredericksburg​

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1863: Wounded in the arm during the Battle of Chancellorsville​

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1863: Major General of Confederate States Army Infantry​

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1863: Wounded in the leg during the Battle of Gettysburg​

Died: July 18, 1863

Place of Death: Staunton, Virginia

Cause of Death: Due to amputation of leg

Age at time of Death: 29 years old

Burial Place: Cavalry Church, Tarboro, North Carolina

 

[Pollaco]

That arm wound at Chancellorsville was from a bullet that killed an officer in front of him.

 

[Pollaco]

When A.P. Hill was wounded at Chancellorsville it was Pender who assumed command of the Light Division until he was himself wounded the following day.

 

[rpkennedy]

When A.P. Hill was wounded at Chancellorsville it was Pender who assumed command of the Light Division until he was himself wounded the following day.

Pender was wounded in almost every single battle in which he fought. Glendale, 2nd Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.

Ryan

 

[Tom Elmore]

Some source comments from the last few minutes before Pender received his mortal wound (at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863):

Around 4 p.m., near the Lutheran Theological Seminary on Seminary Ridge: Pender sat on a large granite boulder with Major Joseph A. Engelhard and Lieutenant Colonel William G. Lewis of the 43rd North Carolina when the enemy opened fire with many pieces of artillery. Pender remarked: "Major, this indicates an assault, and we will ride down our line." [William W. Hassler, ed., The General to His Lady]

General Pender, having ridden to the extreme right of his command, to advance his division should the opportunity offer, received a severe wound in the leg from a fragment of a shell, which subsequently proved fatal. [Official Report, Major Joseph A. Engelhard, Assistant Adjutant General on Pender's staff]

Gen. Pender was wounded during the evening. I saw him as he passed in the litter. [Diary of Charles E. Waddell, Captain, Company A, 12th Virginia]

Pender … was mortally wounded by the brass rim of a shell … he was brought through our brigade on a stretcher. From the number of his followers I knew it was some important officer, and on inquiry, found that it was General Pender. [Westwood Todd, Reminiscences, 12th Virginia]

 

[jvarnell]

Pender's brigade was among the troops of A.P.Hill's Light Division that marched the 17 miles from Harper's Ferry to Sharpsburg and saved the ANV's right flank.

Get'r done!!!!!

 

[Luke Freet]

Pender apparently was one of Oliver Howard's few friends at West Point. Apparently it was because he was very religious and, though not an abolitionist like Howard, wasn't too big on slavery.

 

[Pollaco]

Pender was a cousin to Confederate Congressman Robert R. Bridgers

 

[jvarnell]

Pender was a cousin to Confederate Congressman Robert R. Bridgers

Yes he was, both he and WD Pender were born and raised a few miles down the road. Matter of fact the road is called "Bridgersville Rd."

 

[gentlemanrob]

Remembering General Pender on his birthday! Salutes

 

[USS ALASKA]

Anniversary of his death...

Journal Article
"Patriot by Nature, Christian by Faith": Major General William Dorsey Pender, C.S.A.
Christian G. Samito
The North Carolina Historical Review
Vol. 76, No. 2 (APRIL 1999), pp. 163-201
North Carolina Office of Archives and History

"Patriot by Nature, Christian by Faith": Major General William Dorsey Pender, C.S.A. on JSTOR

Christian G. Samito, "Patriot by Nature, Christian by Faith": Major General William Dorsey Pender, C.S.A., The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 76, No. 2 (APRIL 1999), pp. 163-201

www.jstor.org

Full article at above link on JSTOR with Google sign-in (In the upper right-hand corner of the linked page, there is a 'Log in' button. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google sign-in and this will allow for free reading of 100 articles a month).

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Luke Freet]

Anniversary of his death...

Journal Article
"Patriot by Nature, Christian by Faith": Major General William Dorsey Pender, C.S.A.
Christian G. Samito
The North Carolina Historical Review
Vol. 76, No. 2 (APRIL 1999), pp. 163-201
North Carolina Office of Archives and History

View attachment 555364

"Patriot by Nature, Christian by Faith": Major General William Dorsey Pender, C.S.A. on JSTOR

Christian G. Samito, "Patriot by Nature, Christian by Faith": Major General William Dorsey Pender, C.S.A., The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 76, No. 2 (APRIL 1999), pp. 163-201

www.jstor.org

Full article at above link on JSTOR with Google sign-in (In the upper right-hand corner of the linked page, there is a 'Log in' button. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google sign-in and this will allow for free reading of 100 articles a month).

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

Giving this a read, as I had heard thanks to some passing remarks by @SeanMichaelChick years back. I didn't know how much of a "radical" Dorsey Pender was on the issue of slavery. He's inches short of an abolitionist. Openly says he agrees with the depiction of slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin; reunited a marriage after his brother tried to sell off the wife of one of his slaves. Won't say he's a saint, as the article notes an incident of him whipping one of his body servants (though Pender spoke highly of said slave).
That said, when I heard Sean mention in passing that Pender and Howard were buddies in West Point because Pender wasn't that keen on slavery, I thought it was just a general apathy to it. But it seems much more than that, and much more than any confederate general I've come across. Pender seems to have been far more "radical" on slavery than Patrick Cleburne was (while Cleburne did propose emancipation, it was couched in a "we'll still keep them in line" attitude).
I need to read more on Pender. I'm not as well versed on the Army of Northern Virginia as I am with the Army of Tennessee, at least pre-1864. I wonder if Dorsey Pender had survived his wounding (or avoided it altogether) at Gettysburg, if he'd have made a similar proposal to Cleburne's; or if he survived after the war, what his political stances would be.

 

[Saint Jude]

Just a little more info on the West Point Class of 1850.
Of 46 graduates, 38 fought in the Civil War--24 for the Union and 14 for the Confederacy. Of those who fought for the Union, 5 died during the war. On the Southern side, 7 were killed, including Pender, and one died from disease. By 1880, I believe there were only about 11 members of the class still alive.