William Thomas Marsh

A wealthy planter and lawyer, he was a Whig representative of Beaufort County in the North Carolina General Assembly in 1861. He enrolled for war service on 6 April 1861 and was commissioned Captain of the "Pamlico Rifles", Company I of the Fourth Regiment on 10 May 1861 (to date from 6 April) as the regiment was first organized. He was reelected to the legislature shortly before Sharpsburg, but decided to remain with his men.

He was in command of the regiment in the Sunken Road at Sharpsburg on the morning of 17 September 1862 as the senior officer present, and was mortally wounded in action there.

He died of wounds at Shepherdstown, VA on 25 September 1862.

Information about his pre-War life from a bio sketch from the Palmer-Marsh House site, his Yale obituary,1 and the US Census of 1860. His service from Moore's Roster,2 Clark,3 and his Compiled Service Records,4 via fold3. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a photograph offered by the Horse Soldier, Gettysburg.

He was followed as Captain of Company I by his brother Edward Stanley Marsh (1838-1906), who was later Major of the regiment and retired on disability due to wounds. Edward was also the primary beneficiary of William's 1858 will (in his CSR file), which included a provision for hiring out or selling his slaves if necessary to pay off any debts.

His Yale law diploma [image] was offered by Continental Auctions [now offline].

07/21/1830; near Indian Island, NC

09/25/1862; Shepherdstown, VA; burial in Palmer-Marsh House yard (family cemetery), Bath, NC