Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1333

Rh when that place was abandoned by General Johnston. When the Federals took possession he was transferred to the hospitable home of two ladies and cared for but kept under guard. As the time approached when he could be moved North he was aided by the ladies to escape. Recovering his strength in time to return to duty in September, 1861, he rejoined Jackson's command and served gallantly in the ranks at Kernstown, McDowell, Winchester, Cross Keys and Port Republic. At Second Manassas he was wounded, and again at Chancellorsville while in the famous charge at Hooker's headquarters. He lay on the field till dark, and was reported killed, but fortunately recovered and rejoined his gallant company. Previously first sergeant, he was now made commissary of the regiment. In January, 1865, on the Petersburg lines, he was detailed by General Terry in response to a request of Gen. C. A. Evans, commanding division, for a courier who would go when and where he was sent. In this duty he never failed. In the fight at Deatonsville, during the retreat from Richmond, he carried orders through a murderous fire, and from then until the surrender acted as aide-de-camp to General Evans.

William T. Westwood, a gallant artilleryman of the Second corps of the army of Northern Virginia, was born at Hampton, May 16, 1836. His father, John S. Westwood, a native of Elizabeth City county, for many years held the position of collector of the port at Hampton, and was beloved for his good deeds as a local preacher in the Methodist church. The father of the latter was William Westwood, and his father, who bore the same name, founded the family in Virginia, emigrating from England. The wife of John S. Westwood was Eliza Stanworth, of Welsh descent. William T. Westwood was educated at the Hampton military academy under John B. Cary, and engaged in mercantile pursuits until April, 1861, when he enlisted as a private in the Hampton light artillery. He served with this command at Yorktown under Magruder, and remained in the peninsula taking part in the operations of the artillery until after the defeat of McClellan, in the meantime, on May 28, 1862, having been transferred to the King William artillery, under command of Capt. T. H. Carter. With this command, attached to D. H. Hill's division of Jackson's corps, he took part in the subsequent campaigns, including many engagements, the principal among which were the Seven Pines battles, Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. On September 14, 1863, while participating in an artillery duel at Somerville ford, on the Rapidan river, he received a severe shoulder wound from the explosion of a shell from the enemy's guns, which killed one man and wounded eight others in his battery. He was in hospital at Richmond eight months on account of this injury, and never fully recovered, losing the use of his left arm permanently. He was given an honorable discharge, whereupon he entered the quartermaster-general's department at Richmond, and remained there, winning promotion by efficient service, until the close of hostilities. Mr. Westwood resided at Smithfield from 1866 to 1871, was then for two years a foreman of railway construction with his home at Richmond, and subsequently held for nine years a responsible position in the mechanical department of the Hampton normal and agricultural institute.