Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/119

 UNDER THE CONFEDERACY

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ture of Fortess Monroe, and which was de- nied him. He was captain of the Purcell battery, the first to leave Richmond, and was engaged at Manassas. On March 31, 1862, he was promoted to major, and was made chief of artillery to Gen. A. P. Hill. He was at Fredericksburg and Chancellors- ville and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and made chief of artillery of the Third Corps. At Gettysburg he com- manded sixty-three guns. In 1864 he served in all the principal battles, from the Wilder- ness to Ream's Station. In January. 1865, he was promoted to brigadier-general. He was active in the final days at Petersburg, and thence to the end. After the surrender Gen. Walker gave himself to railroad and public building construction. He died upon his farm, at the confluence of the James and Rivanna rivers, June 7, 1890.

Weisiger, Daniel Adams, a resident of Petersburg, Virginia, served as lieutenant and adjutant in a Virginia regiment in the Mexican war. In May, 1853, he was elected colonel of a Virginia militia regiment which he commanded until i860, when he formed a battalion which marched to Norfolk and witnessed the evacuation of the navy yard. This command became the Twelfth Vir- ginia Regiment, of which he was colonel, and became a part of the .'\rmy of North- ern Virginia. At the second battle of Manasses, he was dangerously wounded and invalided. In May, 1864. in the Wilderness, he was given the Virginia brigade, which he commanded from thence on to the sur- render, he having been promoted to briga- dier-general.

Wharton, G. C, became major of the Forty-fifth Regiment Virginia Infantry, in

July, 1861 ; in August he became colonel of the Fifty-first Regiment, and campaigned under Gen. Floyd in West Virginia. At Fort Donelson he commanded a brigade, and when surrender was determined upon, he escaped with a part of his command, and aided in preserving the government stores at Nashville. He subsequently served in the Kanawha Valley; later was promoted tc brigadier-general, and was transferred to Gen. Longstreet's command in East Ten- nessee. Returning to Virginia, he aided in defeating Sigel and Hunter. He com- manded a division in the Shenandoah cam- paign. After the war he resided in Radford, Virginia.

Whittle, William Conway, born in Nor- folk, \'irginia. in 1805, son of Fortescue Whittle, of county Antrim. Ireland, and Mary Anne Davies. his wife, daughter of Col. William Davies, of Petersburg. He was appointed midshipman in the United States navy. May 10, 1820, and rose to the rank of commander, serving on a number of vessels, including the Brandywine and Ohio. He was in Florida during the Semi- nole difficulties. In the Mexican war he v.-as wounded at the battle of Tuspan, and later commanded the dispatch boat Colonel Harucv. In 1853 he commanded the United States sloop Decatur, on the banks of New- foundland, and the United States sloop Dale, en the coast of Africa. 1854-55. When Vir- ginia seceded, he resigned his commission, and entered the naval service of his state. On June 11, 1861, he entered upon duty in the Confederate States navy. He com- manded the naval defenses on the York river, later commanded the Confederate flotilla on the upper Mississippi, and then