Background
PENDLETON, William Nelson was born on December 26, 1809 in Richmond, Virginia, United States, United States. Son of Edmund and Lucy (Nelson) Pendleton.
clergyman educator General military
PENDLETON, William Nelson was born on December 26, 1809 in Richmond, Virginia, United States, United States. Son of Edmund and Lucy (Nelson) Pendleton.
Graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1830.
He grew up on a plantation in Richmond, where he attended John Nelson’s School before graduating fifth in a class of forty-two from the U.S. Military Academy in 1830. He was an Episcopalian and a Democrat. He had one son and three daughters by his marriage to Anzolette Elizabeth (Page) on July 15,1831.
His only son. Colonel Alexander Swift Pendleton, died in the battle of Winchester in September 1864. Pendleton served at Fort Moultrie and taught at West Point before resigning his commission in the U.S. Army in 1833 over the issue of nullification in South Carolina. He taught mathematics at Bristol College, Pennsylvania, in 1833 and at Newark College, Delaware, in 1837.
In 1837, he was ordained an Episcopal clergyman in Pennsylvania. Pendleton taught at Episcopal Boys’ High School in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1840 before removing to Baltimore in 1843. In 1847, he was rector of All Saints’ Church, Frederick, Maryland, and six years later he became rector of a church in Lexington, Virginia.
Pendleton was sympathetic to the Confederate cause and entered the Confederate Army as a captain and commander of the Rockbridge Artillery. Promoted to colonel, he served as chief of artillery to General J. E. Johnston at the battle of First Manassas. Following his promotion to brigadier general on March 26, 1862, he was chief of artillery for the Army of Northern Virginia and held the position for the rest of the war.
He did not distinguish himself at the Seven Days’ battles in the summer of 1862, but he performed excellently during the battle of Gettysburg a year later. During the siege of Petersburg, he made gallant stands at the battles of Rice’s Station and Farmville, and he helped to arrange the details for the surrender of Lee’s army. He continued as a minister to the troops during the war.
Pendleton was paroled and he returned to Lexington. He was rector of Grace Church in Lexington, Virginia, until his death on January 15, 1883.
"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.
Married Anzolette Elizabeth Page, July 15, 1831, several children including Alexander, Susan (Pendleton) Lee.