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Confederate (CSV)

Major

William George Washington Rice

(1831 - 1908)

Home State: South Carolina

Education: South Carolina College, Class of 1851

Command Billet: Regimental Major

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 3rd South Carolina Infantry Battalion

Before Sharpsburg

A South Carolina College graduate, he was a farmer in Mount Pleasant by 1852. He was commissioned Captain, Company A, of the 3rd Battalion on 25 November 1861, and promoted to Major of the battalion on 31 January 1862.

On the Campaign

He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel to date from 14 September 1862, to replace LCol James in command of the Battalion who was killed on that date in combat at Fox's Gap. Rice was himself wounded in that action.

The rest of the War

He was on furlough until the battle at Fredericksburg, VA, in December 1862 where he was back in command of the Battalion, and remained there through all of its campaigning until he was severely wounded in the left thigh at Knoxville, Tennessee 18 November 1863. He was not able to return to service, and retired 12 January 1865 on a Medical Certificate as a result of wounds received at Knoxville.

After the War

He returned to farming, on land in Laurens and Abbeville. He suffered a paralytic stroke at a daughter's home (he had at least 10 children) on 5 January 1908 and died 3 days later.

References & notes

Basic information from Davis1.

Birth

12/09/1831; Union District, SC

Death

01/08/1908; Ninety Six, SC; burial in Bethlehem Methodist Cemetery, Coronaca, SC

Notes

1   Davis, Sam B., A History of the 3rd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Battalion (James Battalion): 1861-1865 , Wilmington (NC): Broadfoot Publishing Company, 2009, pp. 442-443  [AotW citation 16039]