William Wirt Liggett

In 1860 he was a 24 year old pork merchant with his father in Ripley, Brown County, OH. He enlisted and mustered as First Sergeant of Company H, 12th Ohio Infantry on 24 April 1861. He was appointed First Lieutenant on 4 June and promoted to Captain on 31 March 1862.

He was mortally wounded by a gunshot to the top of his head in action at Fox's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862 which fractured his skull and tore the surface of his brain. In his after-action report Colonel Carr wrote:

Nor must I fail to make honorable mention of Captain W. W. Liggett, of Company H, who fell mortally wounded while fighting at the head of his company ...

He was taken to a field hospital in Middletown, MD and Surgeon John McNulty, USV operated by trephining (boring a hole) in his skull and removing pieces of bone the same day. Captain Leggett was "rational on the morning following the operation" but died on 20 (or 21) September 1862.

His service basics from the Roster.1 Wound and hospital details from the MSHWR.2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

His brother Henry Field Leggett (1840-1888), a lawyer, enlisted in Company H and was First Lieutenant of Company A, 12th Ohio to April 1862.

10/31/1835 in OH

09/20/1862; Middletown, MD; burial in Maplewood Cemetery, Ripley, OH