William C. Oates
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Jump to navigationJump to searchWilliam C. Oates was a Colonel in the 15th Alabama Infantry. He is most well known for his for his repeated attacks against the defensive positions of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's 20th Maine Infantry at Little Round Top and the subsequent bayonet counter-charge of the Maine troops. He served much of the rest of his life as a statesman for post-war Alabama and searching desperately for the grave of his brother, for whom he felt a great guilt and responsibility for leaving behind wounded in one of the charges he ordered at the Round Top.
Antebellum
- Enlisted from an Unknown City, Henry County, Alabama
War Career
- Summer 1861 - Raised a company of volunteers called the Henry Pioneers from greater Henry County, Alabama
- ? - Enlisted in 15th Alabama Infantry at ?
- ? - Mustered in for a ? year term of service
- ? - Major
- ? - Lieutenant Colonel
- ? - Colonel
- July 1-3, 1863 -
Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
The Overland Campaign
- August 1864 - Wounded in action at Petersburg, Virginia (right arm amputated)
Post-War Career
- Built a successful law practice in Southeastern Alabama and entered local politics
- 1880 - Elected to congress, served seven consecutive terms in the House of Representatives
- 1894 - Resigned to become one term governor of Alabama
- 1898 - Volunteered his services for the Spanish-American War and received commission for Brigadier General
- 1901 - Served as an At-Large delegate for the Alabama Constitutional Convention - suffered political ostracism for suggesting that African-American males should be given the right to vote and returned to law practice at Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama
- 1904 - Gettysburg National Military Park Commissioners rejected Oates' petition to erect a monument of the 15th Alabama at Little Round Top after many years of work
- 1905 - Oates published a memoir of his war experiences titled The War Between the Union and the Confederacy and Its Lost Opportunities with a History of the Fifteenth Alabama Regiment and the Forty-Eight Battles in Which It Fought[1]
- December 1907 - Unexpectedly appointed Commissioner for Locating and Marking Confederate Graves in the North by President Theodore Roosevelt and Secretary of War William Howard Taft
- 1908 - Struck with pneumonia, began to experience rheumatism and poor eyesight
- September 9, 1910 - Died of failing health
Family
- John A. Oates (Brother) - Mortally wounded in action on July 2, 1863 on the Little Round Top at the
Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
- died later in a Union field hospital as a prisoner of war
Notes
- ↑ This memoir is not yet available on the WotRWiki
Sources
- Historynet.com - A Brother's Regret: William C. Oates (Written by Glenn W. Lafantasie for Civil War Times Magazine, 2/21/2017).
- Oates, William C. The War Between the Union and the Confederacy and Its Lost Opportunities with a History of the Fifteenth Alabama Regiment and the Forty-Eight Battles in Which It Fought.
- Sifakis, Stewart. Compendium of the Confederate Armies. Alabama. New York: Facts on File, 1992. Print. (Page 76)
Categories:
- Alabama Soldiers
- 15th Alabama Infantry
- Soldiers from an Unknown County, Alabama
- Soldiers from an Unknown City, Unknown County, Alabama
- Confederate Enlisted
- Alabama Enlisted
- Confederate Enlisted on ?
- Alabama Enlisted on ?
- Confederate Mustered In
- Alabama Mustered In
- Confederate Mustered In on ?
- Alabama Mustered In on ?
- Confederate Officers
- Alabama Officers
- Confederate Officers on ? (Major)
- Alabama Officers on ? (Major)
- Confederate Officers on ? (Lieutenant Colonel)
- Alabama Officers on ? (Lieutenant Colonel)
- Confederate Officers on ? (Colonel)
- Alabama Officers on ? (Colonel)
- Confederate Wounded
- Alabama Wounded
- 15th Alabama Infantry Wounded
- Confederate Wounded on 1864.08.?? (Petersburg, VA)
- Alabama Wounded on 1864.08.?? (Petersburg, VA)
- 15th Alabama Infantry Wounded on 1864.08.?? (Petersburg, VA)