David A. Weisiger

David Addison Weisiger (December 23, 1818 – February 23, 1899) was a Confederate States Army brigadier general during the American Civil War (Civil War). Weisiger served as a second lieutenant in the 1st Virginia Volunteers, an infantry regiment, during the Mexican–American War. After the war, he became a leading businessman in Petersburg, Virginia. Between 1853 and 1860, he served in the 39th Virginia Militia Regiment, rising from captain to colonel. After the Civil War, he was a bank cashier at Petersburg, Virginia and a businessman at Richmond, Virginia.

David A. Weisiger
Born(1818-12-23)December 23, 1818
Chesterfield County, Virginia
DiedFebruary 23, 1899(1899-02-23) (aged 80)
Richmond, Virginia
Buried
Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia
Allegiance United States of America
Confederate States of America Confederate States of America
Service/branch United States Army
 Confederate States Army
Years of service1846–1848 (USA)
1861–1865 (CSA)
Rank Second Lieutenant (USV)
Colonel (Virginia Militia)
Brigadier General (CSA)
Unit1st Virginia Volunteers (USV)
Commands held39th Virginia Militia Regiment
12th Virginia Infantry Regiment
Weisiger's Brigade
Battles/warsMexican–American War
American Civil War
Other workBank cashier

Early and family life

David Addison Weisiger was born December 23, 1818, at "The Grove" in Chesterfield County, Virginia.[1][2][3][4] His grandfather Joseph Weisinger had been born in Germany but became Petersburg's mayor in 1792; his father Samuel S. Weisiger became a judge.

Weisinger married at least twice. His first wife died in 1844 and their children never survived infancy. With his second wife, the former Alice Sydnor Barksdale (1835-1856), he had a son, Addison Sydnor Barksdale (1856-1920), who would likewise become a leading citizen of Petersburg.

Virginia militia officer and commission merchant

During the Mexican–American War, Weisiger served in the 1st Virginia Volunteers Infantry Regiment as a second lieutenant of Company E from December 3, 1846, to August 1, 1848.[2][3][5] After the war, he became a commission merchant at Petersburg,[6] which was growing rapidly as a transportation hub and industrial center. By 1849, Weisinger was a leading Freemason, and helped to lay a monument honoring General George Washington in 1850 and was elected the lodge's treasurer in 1858.[7] In the 1860 census, he owned 7 enslaved people (45 and 32 year old women and girls aged 14, 9, 8, 5 and an eight year old boy.[8]

Weisinger served successively as captain, major and colonel of the 39th Virginia Militia Regiment between 1853 and 1860.[2][9] Two Petersburg militia units traveled to Harpers Ferry to keep order during the trial of abolitionist John Brown; Weisinger was officer of the day at Brown's hanging, on December 2, 1859.[3][4][5] Upon returning to Petersburg, he helped augment its militia forces, and three more units were recruited.

Confederate officer

David A. Weisiger began his Confederate Civil War service shortly after Lincoln's election, when he accepted a commission as a major in the 4th Infantry Battalion of the Virginia Militia, replaced as the 39th Regiment's commanding officer by Colonel John M. Davenport, who celebrated the occasion and his new officer comrades in January.[10] Shortly after the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 voted for secession, on April 19, 1861, Weisiger swore in his militia companies into military service, but also wrote a complaint to Adjutant General William H. Richardson in Richmond about his shortage of rifles and especially cartridges and shot.[11] Nonetheless, the next day, April 20, he took his battalion by rail to the Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia when after a train ruse by future Confederate general William Mahone, it was abandoned by the U.S. Navy. Weisinger's troops also occupied the nearby city of Norfolk.[5][9] Weisinger formally became colonel of the 12th Virginia Infantry Regiment on May 9, 1861.[2][3][5][9]

The regiment served on the Virginia Peninsula[3][4] until it was attached to the brigade of then Brigadier General William Mahone in Major General Richard H. Anderson's division of III Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia.[2][4] Weisiger fought at the Battle of Seven Pines and during the Seven Days Battles, taking a prominent part in the Battle of Glendale.[3][4][5][9] He briefly took command of Mahone's brigade when Mahone was wounded at the Battle of Second Bull Run (Second Manassas)[5] but in turn received a severe wound, from which recovery took until July 1863.[2][3][4][9] Two of his captains were also wounded during Second Manassas, and Major John Pegram May killed, so on September 17, 1862 at the end of the Battle of Antietam, only 23 men of the 12th Virginia answered roll call.[12][13] Weisinger took command of Mahone's brigade at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 7, 1864, following Mahone's wound the previous day.[2][3][4] Weisiger commanded the brigade at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and the Battle of Cold Harbor.[4] He was appointed brigadier general with temporary rank on May 31, 1864.[2][3] This commission was confirmed June 7, 1864, but was canceled for lack of a vacancy.[2][14]

When Mahone succeeded to division command upon Major General Richard H. Anderson's transfer to temporary command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet's corps.[15] Weisiger remained in command of the brigade despite the initial cancellation of his promotion.[5]

On July 30, 1864, during the Siege of Petersburg and under General Mahone's command, Weisinger's men went into counter-attack action at the Battle of the Crater with drill-order steadiness, and Wright's Georgian brigade and Sanders' Alabama brigade also cleared the Union troops stuck in the crater, causing 4,000 losses compared to 1500 Confederate casualties.[16][17] Weisiger was wounded again in this battle.[2][3][4] In recognition of his contribution to this Confederate victory (though the siege continued), Weisiger was appointed brigadier general from the date of the battle, July 30, 1864.[2][3][18] Weisiger commanded a brigade in Mahone's division from June 4, 1864, to April 9, 1865.[2][5][9] Thus during August 1864, he led the 6th Virginia Infantry, 12th Virginia Infantry, 16th Virginia Infantry and 61st Virginia Infantry and sometimes the 41st Virginia Infantry, which defended the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, a major route for military transport and supplies into the besieged city, which the federals tried to break.[19] Late that year, as a token of their esteem for his efforts, Petersburg citizens banded together to purchase a horse for Weisinger, although such had become very expensive as a result of the siege.[20]

Weiginger was paroled at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865.[2][3][4][9] He had been wounded three times and had two horses shot from under him.[9]

Postwar, death and legacy

After the Civil War, Weisiger returned to Petersburg, Virginia where he was a bank cashier.[2][3][4] Weisiger moved his business to Richmond, Virginia, where he died on February 23, 1899.[2][3][4] He is buried at Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia.[2]

See also

Notes
  1. He sometimes has been called Daniel Adams Weisiger, having been confused with Confederate Brigadier General Daniel Weisiger Adams. Boatner, 1988, p. 899 erroneously gives his name as "Davis Adams Weisiger."
  2. Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. pp. 558–559.
  3. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 0-8071-0823-5. p. 330.
  4. Wert, Jeffry D. "Weisiger, David Addison" in Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War, edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6. pp. 811–812.
  5. Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 0-8160-1055-2. pp. 702–703.
  6. 1860 U.S. Federal Census for South Ward, Petersburg (independent city), Virginia, p. 100 of 110
  7. William oBrown, Blandford Lodge NO. 3: A.F. & A.M> Petersburg, Virginia: A Bicentennial History (1957) pp. 209, 228, 445
  8. 1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule for South Ward Petersburg, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, p. 23 of 28
  9. Boatner, Mark Mayo, III. The Civil War Dictionary. New York: McKay, 1988. ISBN 0-8129-1726-X. First published New York, McKay, 1959. p. 899.
  10. William D. Henderson, Petersburg in the Civil War: War at the Door (Virginia Regimental Histories Series1998) p. 20
  11. A. Wilson Greene, Civil War Petersburg: Confederate City in the Crucible of War (University of Virginia Press p. 31
  12. Henderson p. 58
  13. Sifakis. 1988, p. 702 is the only one of the cited sources which specifically states that Weisiger fought at the Battle of Gettysburg and in the campaigns during the Fall of 1863; the Virginia Regimental History series indicates it was held in reserve, then used during the withdrawal into Virginia.
  14. Eicher, 2001, p. 799.
  15. Sifakis, 1988, p. 429.
  16. James G. Scott and Edward A. Wyatt IV, Peersburg's Story: A History (Petersburg, 1960) pp. 198-199
  17. Sifakis, 1988, p. 702 states that there was friction between Weisiger and Mahone but this did not prevent them from working together in the last year of the war.
  18. Boatner, 1988, p. 899 says Weisiger was given an on the spot promotion by Army of Northern Virginia commander General Robert E. Lee and Wert, 1986, p. 812 says Weisiger received a battlefield promotion but Lee had no authority to give such promotions. Eicher, 2001, p. 67; Warner, 1959, p. xv. Although Weisiger exercised brigade command, the promotion was not legally effective until he was nominated to that rank by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the appointment was confirmed by the Confederate Senate. These steps were taken on November 1, 1864, and February 3, 1865. Eicher, 2001, p. 799.
  19. John Horn, The Siege of Petersburg: the Battles for the Weldon Railroad, August 1864 (Savas Beattie LLC, El Dorado Hills California 2015) pp. 336, 342
  20. Greene p. 225

References
  • Boatner, Mark Mayo, III. The Civil War Dictionary. New York: McKay, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8129-1726-0. First published 1959 by McKay.
  • Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
  • Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
  • Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
  • Wert, Jeffry D. "Weisiger, David Addison" in Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War, edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6.
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