William N. Pendleton

Infobox Military Person
name= William Nelson Pendleton
born= birth date|1809|12|26
died= death date and age|1883|1|15|1809|12|26


caption=
nickname= "Parson" Pendleton
placeofbirth= Richmond, Virginia
placeofdeath= Lexington, Virginia
placeofburial=
allegiance= United States of America Confederate States of America
branch= Confederate Army
serviceyears= 1830–33 (USA), 1861–65 (CSA)
rank= Brigadier General
unit=
commands=
battles= American Civil War
awards=
relations=
laterwork= Episcopal Priest

William Nelson Pendleton (December 26, 1809 – January 15, 1883) was an Episcopal priest and a Confederate general in the American Civil War, serving as Robert E. Lee's chief of artillery.

Biography

Pendleton was born in Richmond, Virginia. He attended private schools, and was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated fifth in the class of 1830. In 1833 he resigned from the military to take up teaching. He entered the Episcopal Church, and in 1847 discontinued teaching to devote more of his life to the church. He was, from 1853 until his death in 1883, rector of Grace Church in Lexington, Virginia. Hence, he would receive the nickname "Parson" Pendleton from his troops.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Pendleton entered the Confederate military, and was elected captain of the Rockbridge Artillery. He advanced in rank quickly, becoming a colonel and chief of artillery on Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's staff. He stayed with the Army of Northern Virginia the entire war, from First Manassas to Appomattox Court House. On March 26, 1862, he became a brigadier general. He served as chief of artillery for the Army of Northern Virginia for a large portion of the war; however in the final stages of the war, this was mostly administrative, and Pendleton's active command was of the reserve ordnance.

After the war, William Pendleton returned to Lexington and his rectorship of Grace Church. Rev. Pendleton retained his friendship with Robert E. Lee, and played a significant role in persuading his former commander to move to Lexington himself to take on the presidency of the institution that was to become Washington and Lee University. General Lee, in turn, became one of Pendleton's parisioners, and Lee's last public transaction in 1870 was at a Grace Church vestry meeting in which Lee led a group of church leaders in a mutual pledge to increase Rev. Pendleton's salary.

Pendleton remained in Lexington until his own death in 1883, and is buried there. His only son, Alexander Swift "Sandie" Pendleton, born September 28, 1840, became Assistant Adjutant General on Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's staff, then onto General Richard S. Ewell when he took over the Second Corps after Jackson's death. However, Sandie was killed at the Battle of Fisher's Hill on September 22, 1864. His sister, Susan, married Edwin Gray Lee.

References

* Warner, Ezra J., "Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders." Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.

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NAME= Pendleton, William N.
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