William N. Phelps

(1833 - 1916)
Home State: Georgia
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 18th Georgia Infantry

Before the Antietam Campaign:
He was in Company B, and had been captured in action at Cold Harbor in June 1862 and exchanged.

In the Antietam Campaign:
He was captured in action on 17 September 1862 at Sharpsburg.

The remainder of the War:
Sent to Fort McHenry, Maryland October 13, 1862. Paroled and sent to Fortress Monroe, Virginia November 1862. Exchanged at Aiken's Landing, Virginia November 10, 1862. Transferred to Company A, 3rd Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters June 8, 1863. On detached duty in Richmond, Virginia hospital from 1863.

After the War:
He started a report of his death in action at Gettysburg (while still in Richmond) "in order to abandon two wives and to allow him to disappear for decades as a soldier of fortune in Central America".

References, Sources, and other notes:
Basic information from Ranger951. Quote above from Ghosts and Shadows of Andersonville: Essays in American Civil War Social History, by Robert Scott Davis (Mercer University Press, 2006), based on NARA Pension records.

Notes

1 Fincham, Jr., Ray, Artillery, Cavalry, Infantry Regimental Histories - Georgia C.S.A., Published c. 2005, <http://www.ranger95.com/civil_war/georgia/index.html>, Source page: /infantry/18th_inf_regt.html [AotW citation 9464]

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