William Thomas Field

He was at the University of Virginia medical school for a year in 1856-57, then the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston, graduating with an MD in 1858. On 2 February 1861, by then a 25 year old physician in Pickensville, he enlisted as Sergeant, Company H, 4th South Carolina Infantry. He was elected 3rd Lieutenant on 3 December 1861. They became the 4th Infantry Battalion (also known as the 13th) when the Regiment consolidated to 5 Companies in the Spring of 1862 and he was appointed First Lieutenant, Company C.

He commanded the Battalion as senior officer present at Sharpsburg.

He became 1st Lieutenant, Company K, of the Hampton Legion (Infantry) when his decimated Battalion was dissolved and absorbed as two Companies into the Legion after Sharpsburg. He served to the end of the war.

He returned to Pickens and took over his family's farm. He was elected to a term in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1868 and was an officer of the Hampton Rifle Club at Pickens Courthouse by 1876, a quasi-military group (among many similar) which intimidated Republican political opponents with violence. He was also elected to two terms in the State Senate (1882-1890).

Basic service history from his Combined Service Records with help from Steve Batson on his South Carolina units bibliography, both as W.T. Field. Personal details from a bio sketch by Ellison Capers in the History,1 a report on rifle clubs to the US Senate (1877), and family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Eliza Jane (Jennie) Blassingame (cousin?, 1842-1923) in October 1859 and they had a son, Rupert, who died after only 6 weeks.

12/11/1836; near Easley, Pickens District, SC

12/11/1904; Pickens County, SC; burial in Fields Family Cemetery, Pickens, SC