William Thomas Shields, Jr.

In 1860 he was a 20 year old living with his parents and 8 siblings on their farm in Orange County, NC. He enlisted in Hillsborough, NC on 12 May 1862 and mustered as a Private in the Orange Guards - Company G, 27th North Carolina Infantry.

He was severely wounded by a gunshot to his left hip and thigh in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862, as was captured there, left behind on the 19th.

He returned to his Company in April 1863, but was in and out of hospitals later in 1863 and into 1864. He continued to suffer from his Sharpsburg wound, and was detailed at the recommendation of a medical board to light duty at the Conscript Camp (Camp Lee) near Richmond, VA on 29 December 1864. He was there to 11 March 1865, then retired to the Invalid Corps.

By 1870 he was a miller on his father's place in Durham, NC and in 1880 was a carpenter there. By 1910, then age 70, he was a farmer in Durham.

Basic casualty information from Wilson.1 His service from the Roster2 and his Compiled Service Records,3 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1880, 1910. Burial information from his gravesite on Findagrave, which says he "also has a tombstone at Pleasant Green Methodist Church Cemetery, where it is believed his grave was moved at the time of his wife Omega F Cox Shield's death."

He married Omega Frances Cox (1859-1930) in November 1875 and they had 8 children.

William was himself one of 12 children; his brothers Charles J. (1833-1864, died Richmond, VA) and James S. (1832-1863, kia Bristoe Station, VA) were also in Company G.

04/01/1840; Orange County, NC

03/18/1919; burial in John Cabe Family Cemetery, Eno, NC