William Colin Revels (1838 - 1915)

Born 29 May 1838 in Robeson, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Matilda Carolina (Pace) Revels — married about 1866 in Surry, North Carolina, United States

Died 29 May 1915 at age 77 in Pilot Mountain, Surry, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

William was born in 1838. He was the son of Jordan Revels and Mary Bryant. He passed away in 1915.

Military Service

On June 5, 1861, William C. Revels enlisted in Surry County, North Carolina. He is listed as a negro and being a musician (fifer) in Company H, 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. The 11th was present but not engaged at Blackburn's Ford and First Bull Run. On November 14, 1861, the designation of the regiment was changed to the 21st and remained as such until the end of the war. The regiment participated in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of May-June, 1862, and except for a time with the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia and the Valley District, Department of Northern Virginia in 1864, followed General Lee from the Seven Days to Appomattox.

The 21st Infantry Regiment, formerly the 11th Volunteers, was a twelve company command organized at Danville, Virginia, in June, 1861. Men of this unit were recruited in Davidson, Surry, Forsyth, Stokes, Rockingham, and Guilford counties. It was assigned to General Trimble's, Hoke's, Godwin's, and W.G. Lewis' Brigade. After taking part in the Battle of First Manassas and Jackson's Valley operations, the 21st participated in many conflicts of the army from the Seven Days' Battles to Bristoe. It was then involved in the engagements at Plymouth, Drewry's Bluff, and Cold Harbor, marched with Early to the Shenandoah Valley, and saw action around Appomattox. The unit sustained 80 casualties at First Winchester, 13 at Cross Keys and Port Republic , 45 during the Seven Days' Battles, 51 at Groveton, 18 at Sharpsburg, and 24 at Fredericksburg. It lost 78 at Chancellorsville, twenty-eight percent of the 436 at Gettysburg, and 52 at Plymouth. In April, 1865, it surrendered with 6 officers and 117 men of which 40 were armed. The field officers were Colonels Saunders Fulton, B.Y. Graves, James M. Leach, Rufus K. Pepper, William S. Rankin, and William L. Scott; and Majors James F. Beall, Alex. Miller, W.J. Pfohl, and J.M. Richardson.

William's North Carolina pension application shows that he was wounded in the left leg at Winchester, in the right thigh at Gettysburg, and the right shoulder at New Bern.

William Coleman Revels had some Cherokee blood in him, and he did apply for a government claim to be paid to Cherokee Indians but was rejected. However, the information from his military service record lists him as "Negro". He is buried at the Lovell Chapel, the first black Methodist church in Pilot Mountain, NC.

Sources

• "United States Census, 1850", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4BK-3SZ : Sun Mar 10 11:47:28 UTC 2024), Entry for Jorden Revel and Polly Revel, 1850.