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Confederate (CSV)

Captain

Willis Jefferson Dance

(1821 - 1887)

Home State: Virginia

Education: Hampden-Sydney College, University of Virginia

Command Billet: Battery Commander

Branch of Service: Artillery

Unit: Powhatan (VA) Artillery

Before Sharpsburg

A 40 year old lawyer at Powhatan Court House, he enrolled and was commissioned Captain of the Powhatan Light Artillery on 16 July 1861.

On the Campaign

He commanded the battery on the Campaign, and was stationed on the Virginia side of Boteler's Ford near Shepherdstown.

The rest of the War

He continued in service with his battery and commanded the Battalion briefly, at Gettysburg in July 1863. He was wounded in the shoulder at Fort Harrison near Petersburg, VA on 29 September 1864 and in hospitals and furloughed home, sick, to the end of the war. He was promoted to Major on 1 March 1865.

After the War

He resumed his law practice and served as Commonwealth's Attorney for Powhatan County, VA.

References & notes

His service from Richard L. Nicholas and Joseph Servis'sPowhatan, Salem and Courtney Henrico Artillery (1997). His college experience and other details from a bio sketch by Jean L. Cooper on her Students of the University of Virginia, 1825-1874. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

Birth

06/21/1821; "Homestead", Powhatan County, VA

Death

02/13/1887; Powhatan County, VA; burial in Dance Homestead Cemetery, Powhatan, VA