Brigadier General William McComb, P.A.C.S.
Brigadier-General William McComb, a gallant Tennessee soldier, was a
native of Pennsylvania. About 1856 he went to Montgomery county,
Tenn., where he engaged in superintending the erection of a large flouring
mill at Price's landing, on the Cumberland river. In that section of the State
he was living at the beginning of the civil war. Since his sympathies were
with the South, he enlisted as a private in one of the companies of the
Fourteenth Tennessee regiment. He was promoted to lieutenant soon
afterward, and made adjutant of the regiment by Col. W. A. Forbes. This
regiment was part of the brigade of Gen. S. R. Anderson in the Cheat
Mountain campaign in northwest Virginia, and next, with the rest of
Loring's division, shared in the hardships of Stonewall Jackson's winter
campaign to Bath, Hancock, and Romney. At the reorganization of the
regiment at Yorktown, Va., in the winter of 1862, William McComb was
elected major. As such he took part in the battle of Seven Pines, where the
brigade commander, General Hatton, was killed. Gen. James Archer was
now placed in command of this brigade. At the battle of Cedar Run Lieut.
Col. George Harrell was mortally wounded and was succeeded by McComb.
In the second battle of Manassas Colonel Forbes was killed, and now
McComb became colonel of the Fourteenth Tennessee, September 2, 1862.
At the battle of Chancellorsville, Colonel McComb was wounded, and did
not recover in time to take part in the battle of Gettysburg. he was
repeatedly wounded in battle, but always returned to duty as soon as he
was able. On the death of General Archer, his and Gen. Bushrod Johnson's
old brigades were consolidated, and Colonel McComb was placed in
command of the consolidated brigades, receiving his commission as
brigadier-general on the 20th of January, 1865. In the final battles around
Petersburg, McComb and his men did their duty with their accustomed zeal
and alacrity. This gallant brigade and its commander were faithful to the
last, and when the end came returned to their homes with the
consciousness of duty well performed.
Source: Evans, Clement, ed. Confederate Military History, Vol.
XII, Confederate Publishing Company, Atlanta, GA, 1899
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