William Anderson Laws

Age 25, from Granville County, he mustered as Private, Company E, 23rd North Carolina Infantry on 8 July 1862 in Wake County.

He was mortally wounded by gunshot in the groin and captured in action at Fox's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862.

He was first treated at a hospital in Middletown, MD. He was then transferred and admitted to US Army Hospital #1 in Frederick, MD on 22 October 1862. By then he had bedsores which exposed his spine, suffered from chronic diarrhea, and had lost a lot of weight.

On 28 October, in preparation for surgery to remove fragments from his right ischium (bone forming the base of the pelvis) he was administered chloroform by handkerchief, as was usual. About a minute later he took several rapid breaths and then ceased breathing altogether. His pulse ceased shortly after. Artificial respiration was attempted for about 20 minutes with no results. An autopsy found no systemic problems, but noted that the bullet was still embedded in his pelvis [image].

Burial information from Pruett, 1 who has him as W. E. Lans. Service from the Roster 2 via the Historical Data Systems database. Medical details from the MSHWR 3 [page image from NIH] and the Patient List.4 His gravesite is on Findagrave. Farino and Pearcey's Confederate Soldiers Buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery (2010) and his recent stone have him as Anderson Laws.

He was treated in Frederick by Dr Redfern Davies, MRCS, a volunteer surgeon from Birmingham, England, who specialized in abdominal injury and disease.

c. 1837

10/28/1862; Frederick, MD; burial in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, MD