William Samuel Shepherd

Raised in Suffolk, VA, he was a bookkeeper in Norfolk, but moved to Murfreesboro, Hertford County, NC in the months before the War. On 16 May 1861, then age 23, he was commissioned First Lieutenant, Company F, First North Carolina Infantry.

He was killed in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862. Many years later Thomas D. Boone (2nd Lieutenant, Co.F) wrote:

Lt. Shepherd, L.C. Lawrence and I had squatted down just to the rear of Co. F., a bullet from the enemy's line struck Lt. S. somewhere about the heart and that noble spirit in an instant "crossed over the river."

Service and other details from the Roster 1 via the Historical Data Systems database. His gravesite is on Findagrave, source also of his picture, from a photograph in the Suffolk Nansemond Historical Society.

See a most excellent rendition of Lt Shepherd's story from the June 2012 edition of the newsletter [pdf] of the Suffolk Nansemond Historical Society. It has his birth year as 1830.

His much younger brother James was also on the Campaign, but was discharged at Frederick, MD on 8 September 1862 for being underage.

03/30/1838; Mintonsville, VA

09/17/1862; Sharpsburg, MD; burial in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Suffolk, VA