Whiting, William Henry Chase

William Whiting was born on March 22, 1824 in the town of Biloxi in southern Mississippi, in the family of artillery officer Levi Whiting and Mary Whiting. At the age of 12, he was already an outstanding student and graduated from English High School of Boston in Boston, Massachusetts. At 16, he graduated from Georgetown College in Washington. In 1841, he entered the West Point Military Academy, where he made a good impression on the instructors and became the first in academic achievement in the 1845 graduation . His classmates were Edmund Kirby Smith and FitzJon Porter .

After the academy, Whiting received the permanent rank of second lieutenant of engineering troops. He was engaged in the construction of forts in Florida and Maryland . March 16, 1853 was promoted to first lieutenant and was sent to the West, where he was engaged in the construction of fortifications of San Francisco. From 1856 he was engaged in engineering in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. December 13, 1858 received the rank of captain.

In January 1861, Captain Whiting was in charge of forts in Georgia and Florida. When the militia of these states began to occupy the forts, he did not take any reciprocal steps. On January 3, he received a message that the Georgians were going to capture Fort Marion, but did not notify the garrison and the command of the fort. By the end of the month, more than half a dozen federal forts, arsenals, and barracks passed into the hands of the state militia, which Whiting did not oppose.

On February 20, 1861, he left the ranks of the US Army and became a major in the engineering troops of the Confederation army. He worked on improving the Charleston harbor, and then became chief engineer in the Shenandoah army under General Johnston. He was in that position during the first battle of Bull Run . After the death of Brigadier General Bernard Bee, he was assigned to command the Bee Brigade. In August 1861 he was given the rank of brigadier general, and at the beginning of 1862 he commanded a division and took part in the battle of Seven Pines . He was temporarily sent to the Shenandoa Valley to help General Thomas Jackson, after which he returned to the Virginia Peninsula, where he took part in the battles of Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill.

General Robert Lee was displeased with Whiting during the Seven-Day Battle, removed him from command of the division and betrayed it to John Hood . Whiting was sent to a quieter area - in the North Carolina district of Walmington. He spent the whole war there, and only in May 1864 he temporarily commanded the garrison of the fortifications of Petersberg. In early 1865, Whiting took part in the battles for Fort Fisher, where he was wounded and captured. Already in captivity, he wrote letters to the leadership of the Confederation asking him to investigate Braxton Bragg’s actions during the battle for Fort Fisher. He condemned Bragg for not sending Robert Hawk's division to the attack of the rear of the federal army that stormed Fort Fisher.

Whiting's body was seriously depleted during his service, he was wounded in the leg during the battle for Fort Fisher, and he eventually died of dysentery in a federal military hospital at Fort Columbus on March 10, 1865. He was buried nearby at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. In 1900, his widow moved his remains to the Oakdale Cemetery cemetery in Walmington, North Carolina.

• United States Military Academy Class of 1845
• short biography