Civil War
When the Civil War broke out, Kirkland was colonel of the 11th North Carolina Volunteers, later designated the 21st North Carolina. He fought at First Manassas, and, the next year, he participated in Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Kirkland was shot through both thighs during the First Battle of Winchester, putting him out of action for several months. When he returned, Kirkland became chief of staff for Patrick Cleburne during the Murfreesboro campaign in December 1862.
Kirkland returned to active service with his old regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg, taking part during the fighting on July 1 & 2. He was promoted to brigadier general in August 1863, and commanded the former brigade of J. Johnston Pettigrew at the Battle of Bristoe Station, where his left arm was fractured by a bullet. In 1864 he fought in the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse before being wounded again at the Battle of Cold Harbor, when he was once again shot in the right thigh. Kirkland was assigned to the command of another brigade in Robert F. Hoke's division in August 1864.
Kirkland served under James Longstreet at Richmond, taking part in the attack on Fort Harrison in October 1864. Transferred to North Carolina in December, Kirkland assisted in the defense of Fort Fisher by forcing back the Federal advance under the command of Benjamin Butler. Later, when the Confederates abandoned the fort and withdrew to Wilmington, he commanded the rear guard and directed events in the fighting at Wise's Fork. He fought at Bentonville and surrendered with Joseph E. Johnston on April 26, 1865 in Durham, North Carolina.
After the war, Kirkland settled in Savannah, Georgia, where he worked in the commission business. He later moved to New York and worked for the post office there. An invalid by the end of the century, he spent the last years of his life in a soldier's home in Washington, D.C.. Kirkland died on May 12, 1915, and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
Kirkland's daughter Bess became famous on the Broadway stage under the name "Odette Tyler." His family home, Ayr Mount, in Hillsborough, NC, is now a house museum.
Read more about this topic: William Whedbee Kirkland
Famous quotes by civil war:
“At Hayes’ General Store, west of the cemetery, hangs an old army rifle, used by a discouraged Civil War veteran to end his earthly troubles. The grocer took the rifle as payment ‘on account.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“He was high and mighty. But the kindest creature to his slaves—and the unfortunate results of his bad ways were not sold, had not to jump over ice blocks. They were kept in full view and provided for handsomely in his will. His wife and daughters in the might of their purity and innocence are supposed never to dream of what is as plain before their eyes as the sunlight, and they play their parts of unsuspecting angels to the letter.”
—Anonymous Antebellum Confederate Women. Previously quoted by Mary Boykin Chesnut in Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, edited by C. Vann Woodward (1981)
“During the Civil War the area became a refuge for service- dodging Texans, and gangs of bushwhackers, as they were called, hid in its fastnesses. Conscript details of the Confederate Army hunted the fugitives and occasional skirmishes resulted.”
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)