William Henry Willis

In 1860 he was a merchant in Oglethorpe, Macon County, GA. He enrolled and mustered as First Lieutenant, Company I, 4th Georgia Infantry on 29 April 1861 and was promoted Captain on 28 April 1862.

Ho took command of the regiment at Sharpsburg as senior officer after Major Smith was killed.

He was promoted to Major in May 1863 (to date from 1 November 1862) and was wounded at Chancellorsville that month. He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel on 15 August 1863 (rank from 1 July) and again wounded, by a gunshot to his right knee, on 5 May 1864 in the Wilderness, VA, and was in hospitals or on furlough to at least 20 August. He was promoted to Colonel of the regiment on 21 September 1864 (to date from 5 August) and was with his regiment to at least 4 January 1865, but was on leave in Oglethorpe, GA after 21 January and retired to the Invalid Corps on 28 January 1865.

By 1870 and to at least 1880 he was again a successful retail merchant in Oglethorpe, GA, and he was elected to the State legislature (1873-77).

His service from Thomas1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3, with personal details from Allardice,3 family genealogists, and the US Census of 1860-1880. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a group photograph at the Library of Congress.

He married Isabella Campbell Griffin (1842-1896) in May 1864 and they had 3 children.

02/10/1829; Jones County, GA

12/31/1889; Oglethorpe, GA; burial in Oglethorpe Memorial Gardens, Oglethorpe, GA