|
Major General William Dorsey Pender
Dorsey Pender commanded a division in A. P. Hill's III Corps. On 1 July, Pender's division moved in support of Henry Heth up the Chambersburg Pike to Gettysburg. That afternoon his men were positioned on Herr Ridge, and later supported the all-out attack of the Federals on McPherson's Ridge. Hill ordered Pender to attack at about 4 PM. The attack was very bloody but, in the end, Pender's men forced the Union troops back in and through Gettysburg.
On 2 July, Pender was posted near the Lutheran Seminary. During James Longstreet's assault on Union positions on the Confederate right, Pender was wounded in the thigh by a shell fragment from that direction, and turned command over to James Lane. Pender was taken back to Staunton, VA, where an artery ruptured, killing him.
Pender's wife, a devout women, was against Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North and Pender's part in it. She believed it was morally wrong for the South to take the offensive, and the South would suffer ill for it. Given the defeat at Gettysburg and Pender's death, it seems she may have been prescient
-JÆS{{}}Ñ
| 
