This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Size | 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 202 items) |
Abstract | William Dorsey Pender, of Edgecombe County, N.C., was a West Point graduate and United States Army officer. He served briefly as colonel of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Confederate States of America, and as a colonel of the 6th North Carolina Infantry Regiment before transferring to A. P. Hill's division and being promoted to major general, May 1863. He participated in many of the major engagements in Virginia and died in July 1863 as the result of a wound received at Gettysburg. The papers are almost entirely letters from William Dorsey Pender to his wife, Mary Frances ("Fanny") Shepperd, daughter of former congressman Augustine H. Shepperd of Forsyth County, N.C. Those of May-August 1860 were written while he was on field duty, in Oregon, to Fanny at Fort Vancouver. Civil War letters were written chiefly from camps in North Carolina and Virginia to Fanny in North Carolina, giving an intimate account of Pender's personal feelings, religious experiences, activities, ambitions, and opinions of his associates and superiors. |
Creator | Pender, William Dorsey, 1834-1863. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, June 2009; Kathryn Michaelis, November 2010; Nancy Kaiser, March 2021
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
William Dorsey Pender (1834-1863) of Edgecombe County, N.C., was a West Point graduate and United States Army officer. In 1860 he served with the United States Army in Oregon and other parts of the Western Territory. In March 1861 he decided to join the Confederacy and served briefly as colonel of the 3rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Confederate States of America, and as a colonel of the 6th North Carolina Infantry Regiment before transferring to A. P. Hill's division and being promoted to major general, May 1863. He participated in many of the major engagements in Virginia and died in July 1863 as the result of a wound received at Gettysburg.
His wife was Mary Francis ("Fanny") Sheppard Pender, daughter of former congressman Augustine H. Shepperd of Forsyth County, N.C.
Back to TopThe papers are almost entirely letters, 1860-1863, from William Dorsey Pender to his wife, Fanny. Those of May-August 1860 were written while he was on field duty, in Oregon, to Fanny at Fort Vancouver. Civil War letters were written chiefly from camps in North Carolina and Virginia to Fanny in North Carolina, giving an intimate account of Pender's personal feelings, religious experiences, activities, ambitions, and opinions of his associates and superiors. There is some mention of military engagements and troop movements. The letters of March-May 1861 discuss the early stages of Confederate military organization and the recruitment and training of troops. The collection also includes a biographical sketch, 1877, of William Dorsey Pender written by S. T. Pender.
Back to TopFolder 1a |
Original finding aid |
Folder 1b |
May 1860-May 1861 |
Folder 2 |
June-September 1861 |
Folder 3 |
October-December 1861 |
Folder 4 |
February-May 1862 |
Folder 5 |
June-December 1862 |
Folder 6 |
February-March 1863 |
Folder 7 |
April-June 1863 |
Folder 8 |
Biographical sketch |