I just spent four days at Topsail Beach in Pender County and never realized the county is named for William Dorsey Pender, a Confederate general who's life was cut short by a mortal wound received by a Union shell fragment fired from Cemetery Hill on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Pender was born in 1834 and died July 18, 1863 and is considered one of the South's youngest and most promising generals. He was born at Pender's Crossroads, NC, and attended the US Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1854. He is buried at Cavalry Church Cemetery in Tarboro, NC, Edgecombe County. Pender's Crossroads was also in Edgecombe County.
In 1875, a part of New Hanover County broke off and was named in his honor, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Elisha Porter, who had served under him in the war. The same day the county came into being, he and his wife welcomed a son into the world, whom they named Pender Porter.
During World War II, a Liberty Ship was also named in the general's honor, the SS Wiliam D. Pender. It was built at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company yards in Wilmington and scrapped in 1960 at Baltimore. Its engines came from the General Machinery Corporation in Hamilton, Ohio.
On May 27, 1914, the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated a monument to Pender in Burgaw, the county seat. It first stood at the corner of Wright and Freeman streets and in 1951 was moved to the side of the square. It has since been moved a third time for better visibility.
From Wikipedia and WWAY Channel 3 ABC News.
Something I Didn't Know. --Old B-R
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