William Whann Mackall
Born January 18, 1817
Died August 19, 1891
Place of birth: Georgetown, Washington, D.C
Place of death: Langley, Virginia
Buried: Lewinsville Presbyterian Church Cemetery
How died: Cause unknown
Military Service: Confederate Army
Military ranks held: Lieutenant Colonel, Brigadier General
Units: Command of Confederate Army at Madrid Bend, Department of the Tennessee, Command of the District of the Gulf, the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, Georgia
Battles/engagements: Madrid Bend
William Whann Mackall was a Confederate Brigadier General. Born in the District of Columbia, he was appointed to the US Military Academy in 1833 and graduated in 1837. He was commissioned an officer in the 1st US Artillery. He distinguished himself in the Seminole War, Mexican War and at the start of the Civil War declined promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army in order to serve in the Confederate Army. Commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel on the staff of General Albert Sidney Johnston, he was promoted Brigadier General in March 1862.
Mackall’s service to the Confederacy was predominately administrative, but his artillery experience lead to his initial assignment to the command of the Confederate forces at Madrid Bend, on the Mississippi, where he was captured by Union troops and was prisoner exchanged in August 1862. In 1863, he was given command of the District of the Gulf and was appointed chief of staff by General Braxton Bragg. He was on duty in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana in 1864 and fought in the campaign against Union General Sherman from Dalton to Atlanta, Georgia. He was relieved from his staff duties at his own request, but continued to participate in Confederate operations until he surrendered to the Union in Macon, Georgia, on April 20, 1865.
After the war, Mackall became a farmer and real estate speculator in Virginia.
Sources:
1. Blog, Civil War Days and Those Surnames, “William W. Mackall & Gilbert Moxley Sorrel”, March 30, 2010, by Dennis Segelquist
2. Brothers and Cousins: Confederate Soldiers and Sailors of Fairfax County, VA, compiled by William Page Johnson, II
3. Website Ancestry.com
4. Website Historical Society of Cecil County, “Cecil County’s Civil War General”, by Milt Diggins
Larger image of marker
Researched and written by Jim Lewis
