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W.N. Wood

W.N. Wood

Confederate (CSA)

Lieutenant

William Nathaniel Wood

(1839 - 1909)

Home State: Virginia

Command Billet: Commanding Regiment

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 19th Virginia Infantry

Before Sharpsburg

A clerk in Charlottesville, he mustered as Private, Company A, 19th Virginia Infantry at Charlottesville, VA on 9 July 1861. He joined his Company at Manassas, VA on the 20th and saw his first action there on 21 July. He was commissioned 3rd Lieutenant on 28 April 1862.

On the Campaign

He was in command as senior officer present after all the other more senior men had been killed or disabled at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862. Only one other officer, Lieutenant James Grinstead of Company K was present, and only 54 men.

The rest of the War

He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 24 September and was appointed acting Adjutant in October 1862. He commanded his Company in action at Gettysburg, and was slightly wounded there on 3 July 1863. He was wounded in the neck near Hatcher's Run, VA on 31 March 1865 and was captured in action at Sailor's Creek, VA on 6 April and held at the Old Capitol Prison, Washington, DC, then at Johnson's Island, OH. He took the oath of allegiance and was released 20 June 1865.

After the War

He was a clerk, salesman, farmer and bookkeeper. In the 1890's he wrote Reminiscences of Big I, which was published by Michie, Charlottesville in 1909. It was the "... direct and poignant recollections of a yeoman who worked up through the ranks and became an officer in the 19th Virginia..."

References & notes

Service and other details from Ervin L. Jordan's 19th Virginia Infantry (roster, 1987) via the Historical Data Systems database. Some details from Wood's own Reminiscences of Big I (1909). His gravesite is on Findagrave, source also of his picture, from a photograph of unknown provenance.

Birth

11/16/1839; Albemarle County, VA

Death

02/10/1909; Charlottesville, VA; burial in Maplewood Cemetery, Charlottesville, VA