William Henry Best

In 1860 he was a 17 year old living with his parents and 3 siblings on their small farm near Buck Swamp in Wayne County, NC. He was conscripted on 15 July 1862 in Raleigh, NC and mustered as a Private in Company D, 3rd North Carolina Infantry.

He was sent to a hospital in Frederick, MD by 12 September, left behind, and captured there.

He was in US Army General Hospital #1 in Frederick, MD to 22 September and afterward was a prisoner at Fort Delaware to 2 October, then sent to Aikens' Landing, VA for exchange. He was in a hospital in Richmond, VA by 13 October, transferred to Scottsville, VA on the 20th, sent to the parole camp in Richmond on 7 November, and formally exchanged to return to duty on 10 November 1862.

He was wounded in a testicle in action at Gettysburg, PA on 2 July 1863 and captured. He was treated in a field hospital to 18 July, then the DeCamp General Hospital on David's Island in New York Harbor. He was paroled there for exchange on 24 August, was in the parole camp in Richmond, VA by 7 September, and by October 1863 he was back in North Carolina, never to return to his company.

By 1870 and to at least 1900 he was a farmer at Pikeville, NC. In 1910 he was retired and living with his son Zeno Albert "Bert" Best and family on their farm near Pikeville.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3. He's also on the Confederates In Frederick List.2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1910. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Patience E Giddens (1844-1909) in January 1865 and they had 6 children.

10/30/1842; Wayne County, NC

10/12/1922; Johnston County, NC; burial in Hubbard Cemetery, Pikeville, NC