July 18 

By: Georgiana Simon

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          On this day in 1863, Major General William Dorsey Pender (1834-1863) succumbed to wounds sustained at the Battle of Gettysburg. Born into a wealthy, slave owning family in Edgecombe County, Pender graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1854. When the Civil War broke out, he resigned his commission in the U.S. military and joined the Confederate army. Serving as Colonel of the 6th North Carolina Infantry at the Battle of Seven Pines, his performance attracted the attention of President Jefferson Davis who promoted Pender to Brigadier General on the battlefield on June 1, 1862. Pender would fight with the Army of Northern Virginia in every battle, being wounded three times. These injuries did not stop Pender and his resilience garnered attention from Robert E. Lee, who promoted him to Major General in command of a division on May 27, 1863. On the day of his promotion, Pender wrote a letter to his wife, Mary Francis Pender, stating that “my command may be needed very soon.” Indeed, his command was needed on July 1, 1863, when his division successfully drove the Union I Corps off of Seminary Ridge in a bitter afternoon clash at the Battle of Gettysburg. On July 2, while positioned on this ridge awaiting further orders, a piece of an artillery shell struck Pender in the thigh, causing a mortal wound. He was transported to Staunton, Virginia, where on July 18, 1863, he would speak his final words: “Tell my wife that I do not fear to die.” Pender left behind a pregnant Mary Francis and two small children. Robert E. Lee recognized him as one of the “Legendary Confederate Heroes.”

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William Dorsey Pender

(image from Library of Congress)

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Sources:

"William Dorsey Pender," American Battlefield Trust; William Woods Hassler, ed., One of Lee’s best Men: The Civil War Letters of General William Dorsey Pender (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 240-260.