William Henry McClaugherty

An 18 year old farmer on his father's place at Seguin, TX, he enlisted at Camp Clark in Guadalupe County as a Private in Company D, 4th Texas Infantry on 4 July 1861. He was appointed 4th Sergeant on 14 December 1861, promoted to 2nd Sergeant by July 1862, and to First Sergeant of his Company on 1 September.

He was in action with his Company at Fox's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September and probably commanded the Company at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862 as senior man present.

He was elected 2nd Lieutenant on 1 October (or 11 November) 1862 and promoted to First Lieutenant on 12 May 1863. He was severely wounded by a gunshot in the thigh in the Wilderness, VA on 6 May 1864. He was in Richmond hospitals where he was medically retired on 9 (or 20) January 1865, and posted to the Invalid Corps at Seguin, TX. He was promoted again, to Captain, to date from 6 September 1864, but apparently never served at that rank.

He was a farmer in Guadalupe County by 1870 and to at least 1880. He was granted a patent for an improved cotton scraper and chopper in February 1875.

Service information from Davis1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 via fold3. Personal details from family genealogists, at least one of whom has his birth in Mercer, (West) Virginia, and the US Census for 1860 and 1880.

He married Sarah F. “Sally” Smith (1845-1866) in Guadalupe County in October 1865. He married again, Eugenia Fenner "Jennie" Burges (1849-) in Guadalupe in October 1868, and they had a daughter Kate (1871-1943). Jennie's brothers William and Robert Burges were also in Company D and at Sharpsburg.

09/25/1842; Giles County, VA

02/07/1897; Terrell County, TX