Private William Hartley

Private William Hartley

Company E (the "Watauga Minute Men"), 37th Regiment N.C. Troops

William Hartley (born October 21, 1832) farmed in the Laurel Creek District, Watauga County, with his wife and two small children. On September 18, 1861, he volunteered in the “Watauga Minute Men,” subsequently designated Company E, 37th Regiment N.C. Troops. Hartley was one of 137 members of his regiment captured at the Battle of Hanover Court House, Virginia, May 27, 1862. The prisoners were sent to Fort Columbus, New York Harbor, but were exchanged on August 5. Hartley returned to duty and during the winter was granted a furlough. The January-February 1863 muster roll of Company E reported that he was “at home over staying furlough.” Hartley returned to duty, however. He was killed in action at Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, one of 252 casualties suffered by the 37th North Carolina in that battle, including sixty-seven men killed or mortally wounded in action.

Hartley is buried in the Confederate Cemetery, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Unknown Photographer

1860 U. S. Census, Laurel Creek District, Watauga County, North Carolina, population schedule, p. 108, dwelling 897, family 647, William Hartley household; Michael C. Hardy, Watauga County North Carolina in the Civil War (Charleston: The History Press, 2013), 68, hereinafter cited as Hardy, Watauga County: Manarin et. al., North Carolina Troops, 9:530; Mast, “North Carolina Casualties”; service record files of William Hartley, 37th Regiment N.C. Troops, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from the State of North Carolina (M270), RG109, NA; http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Hartley...&

Terry Harmon