William Joseph Magill

(c. 1826 - 1890)
Home State: Georgia
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 1st Georgia (Regulars) Infantry

Before the Antietam Campaign:
He was in the first Class to graduate from the Citadel, and served as 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd US Dragoons during the Mexican War (1847-48). He was Commandant of Cadets and Mathematics professor at the Kentucky Military Institute, and then at the Georgia Military Institute until the War.

On 1 February (or 21 May) 1861 he was commissioned Captain, Company A, of the 1st Georgia Regulars, and was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment 18 June 1861. He was made Colonel in February 1862 on the death of Colonel Charles C Williams.

In the Antietam Campaign:
He was wounded in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September, and was left behind in Maryland. He lost his right arm due to wounds.

The remainder of the War:
He is shown in the OR as returned to, and commanding the Regiment by Fredericksburg in December 1862. He resigned (or retired) from the regiment 3 August 1864. He was captured as Colonel, Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS), on 8 May 1865 in Athens, Georgia, and paroled the same day.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Sources: 1st Georgia history, from Sifakis' with details from family genealogist Anne Percival Kruszka (William married Mary Percival on 20 July 1848), a brief bio from the Citadel Alumni Association, and other Citadel historians. His wife filed for a pension in Dade County, Florida, in 1910, which has more details about the Colonel and his service.

Citadel classmate Colonel Charles C Tew was killed at Sharpsburg.

Place of Birth: Georgetown, SC
College: S Carolina Military Academy (later The Citadel)    Graduating Year: 1846
Death Date: 09/17/1890    Death Place: Jacksonville, FL    Burial Place: Evergreen Cemetery, Jacksonville, FL

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