William T. Wofford

Infobox Military Person
name= William Tatum Wofford
lived= June 28, 1824 – May 22, 1884


caption=
nickname=
placeofbirth= Habersham County, Georgia
placeofdeath= Cass Station, Georgia
allegiance= United States of America
Confederate States of America
branch= U.S. Army
Confederate Army
serviceyears= 1847–48 (USA)
1861–65 (CSA)
rank= Captain (USA)
Brigadier General (CSA)
unit=
commands=
battles= Mexican-American War American Civil War
* Battle of Yorktown
* Battle of Eltham's Landing
* Battle of Seven Pines
* Second Battle of Bull Run
* Battle of Antietam
* Battle of Fredericksburg
* Battle of Chancellorsville
* Battle of Gettysburg
* Battle of the Wilderness
* Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
awards=
relations=
laterwork= planter, educator, politician

William Tatum Wofford (June 28, 1824 – May 22, 1884) was an officer during the Mexican-American War and a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Early life and career

Wofford was born in Habersham County, Georgia to William H. Wofford and Nancy M. Tatum. In 1844 he graduated from Franklin College in Ga.. Wofford first experienced military life in 1847 during the Mexican-American War, where he was a captain in the Georgia Mounted Volunteers. Wofford was mustered out of the volunteer service on July 12, 1848 and afterwards worked as a planter, served as a state legislator, and then became a lawyer. In 1852 he was editor of the Cassville "Standard" newspaper.Eicher, p. 578.]

Civil War service

Wofford had previously voted against secession, but offered his services to his state and the Confederate Army. He was appointed a colonel in the Georgia State Militia, then a captain in the 18th Georgia Infantry in April 1861. On the 25th of that month Wofford was promoted to colonel, and served in North Carolina and Virginia before being assigned to Gen. John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade. He saw action at Yorktown, West Point, and Seven Pines during the Peninsula Campaign. Wofford and the 18th also fought at Second Bull Run and Antietam, where he commanded the Texas Brigade.

In November 1862, Wofford and the 18th Georgia were transferred to the Georgia brigade of General Thomas R. R. Cobb. [Eicher, pp. 578, 592.] They fought under Cobb at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December, defending the famous stone wall at the base of Marye's Heights. Cobb was mortally wounded in the battle, and Wofford assumed command of his brigade and was promoted to brigadier general on January 17, 1863. He led the brigade, now referred to as Wofford's Brigade, at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, where he followed William Barksdale's Mississippi brigade in the assault through the Peach Orchard late in the afternoon of July 2nd. There Wofford's men drove Union troops out of the Wheatfield but had to stop short of the new Union line near Little Round Top.

Traveling to Georgia with Longstreet's First Corps to reinforce the Army of Tennessee, he arrived on the field too late to participate in the Battle of Chickamauga. His whereabouts are unknown during Longstreet's siege of Knoxville, Tennessee. Wofford fought in the Overland Campaign at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and was wounded in both battles. He left the Army of Northern Virginia before the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign and assumed command of the Subdistrict of Northern Georgia, of the District of Georgia, Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida on January 20, 1865, a post he held until he was paroled at Resaca, Georgia on May 2, 1865. Shortly afterwards Wofford was pardoned by the U.S. government on July 24th.

Postbellum

After the war Wofford was a planter and active in the law, Democratic politics, and education. As a delegate to the Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1877, he argued for the repeal of convict leasing, for Confederate veterans' benefits, and for African-American education. Many of his ideas appeared in the platform of the Populist Party a decade later. [Smith, p. 2142.] He died in Cass Station, Ga. and is buried in nearby Cassville Cemetery.

References

* Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., "Civil War High Commands", Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
* Smith, Gerald J., "William Tatum Wofford", "Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History", Heidler, David S., and Heidler, Jeanne T., eds., W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, ISBN 0-393-04758-X.
* Tagg, Larry, [http://www.rocemabra.com/~roger/tagg/generals/ "The Generals of Gettysburg"] , Savas Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-882810-30-9.

Notes