Background
CABELL, William Lewis was born on January 1, 1827 in Danville, Virginia, United States, United States. Son of General Benjamin W. S. Cabell and Sarah Eppes (Doswell).
Businessman General lawyer military
CABELL, William Lewis was born on January 1, 1827 in Danville, Virginia, United States, United States. Son of General Benjamin W. S. Cabell and Sarah Eppes (Doswell).
Graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1850.
He graduated thirty-third in a class of forty-four from the U.S. Military Academy in 1850 and began his military career as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He was an Episcopalian. He had five sons and a daughter by his July 22, 1856, marriage to Harriet A. Rector, daughter of Governor Henry Massey Rector of Arkansas.
Cabell was promoted to first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster in 1855 and to captain in the Quartermaster Corps in 1858. He participated in the Utah expedition in 1858. He resigned his commission in 1861 and volunteered for the Confederate Army.
As a major during the early days of the war, he assisted in organizing the Quartermaster, Commissary, and Ordnance Departments. At the battle of First Manassas he was the chief quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac under P.G.T. Beauregard. He was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department early in 1862 and offered invaluable assistance at the battle of Elkhorn Tavern and commanded all troops on the White River in Arkansas.
In late 1862, he saw action at Iuka, Saltillo, Corinth, and Hatchie Bridge, where he was wounded while commanding the rear of the army as it retreated from Corinth, Mississippi. In February 1863, upon his recovery, he organized a cavalry brigade in northwest Arkansas, and he sanctioned the recruitment of soldiers from that western state. After promotion to the rank of brigadier general on April 23, 1863, he fought in the battles of Poison Spring, Marks’ Mill, and Jenkins’ Ferry in Arkansas during the spring of 1864.
In October of that year, he was captured during General Sterling Price’s raid into Missouri and was not released until August 1865. After the war, Cabell moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1866. In December 1872, he moved to Dallas, Texas, to practice law.
He served four terms as mayor of Dallas between 1874 and 1882. Cabell, a well-known Democratic politician in the state, was also vice-president and general manager for Texas Trunk Railway during the 1880s. From 1885 to 1889, he served as U.S. marshal for the northern district of Texas.
When he retired from public life and business, Cabell became active in Confederate veteran organizations.
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.