William Preston Bell

Going by Preston, in 1860 he was a 25 year old day laborer living next door to his father-in-law's farm at Tinker's Creek in the Barnwell District, SC. He enlisted there on 1 July 1862 and mustered as a Private in Company K, 2nd South Carolina Infantry.

He was wounded by a gunshot in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was admitted to the Camp Winder hospital in Richmond, VA on 27 September and furloughed for 30 days from 7 October 1862. He was wounded again, by a gunshot to his left hand in the Wilderness, VA in May 1864 and was surrendered at Augusta, GA on 18 May 1865.

By 1870 and to at least 1900 he was a farmer at Millbrook Township in Barnwell County (became part of Aiken County in 1871).

His service basics from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3, as W.P. Bell. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1900. His gravesite is on Findagrave; his stone has his service in the 15th South Carolina Infantry (he's not in the records for that regiment) - due to an error on his son George's 1931 application for his government stone.

He married Elizabeth Wall (1835-1891) and they had 11 children between 1855 and 1880.

09/14/1836 in SC

06/05/1908; burial in Mount Beulah Baptist Church Cemetery, Windsor, SC