W. R. Boggs Reminiscences
In this typescript (written at his daughter's often repeated request to know something of my war history) W. R. Boggs recounts his service as a Confederate officer during the Civil War. He begins his narrative with his departure from the U. S. Army at the start of the conflict and continues on to describe his service as head of the Confederate Ordnance Bureau, as Colonel and Chief Engineer of the Georgia State Forces, as a staff officer for General E. Kirby Smith (during which time he participated in the invasion of Kentucky and was promoted to Brigadier-General), and as Chief of Staff in the Trans-Mississippi Department. He also mentions his capture and parole at the end of the war and expresses his continuing belief in the Confederate cause. Included with this typescript are several photocopied obituaries for General Boggs that appeared in various southeastern newspapers.
Dates
- 1891 January 16, circa 1911
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Extent
0.1 Linear Feet (1 folder)
Abstract
In this typescript (written at his daughter's often repeated request to know something of my war history) W. R. Boggs recounts his service as a Confederate officer during the Civil War. He begins his narrative with his departure from the U. S. Army at the start of the conflict and continues on to describe his service as head of the Confederate Ordnance Bureau, as Colonel and Chief Engineer of the Georgia State Forces, as a staff officer for General E. Kirby Smith (during which time he participated in the invasion of Kentucky and was promoted to Brigadier-General), and as Chief of Staff in the Trans-Mississippi Department. He also mentions his capture and parole at the end of the war and expresses his continuing belief in the Confederate cause. Included with this typescript are several photocopied obituaries for General Boggs that appeared in various southeastern newspapers.
Biographical/Historical Note
William Robertson Boggs was born to Archibald and Mary Ann (Robertson) Boggs in Augusta, Georgia on March 18, 1829. He graduated from West Point in 1853 and served in the U. S. Army until 1861, when he resigned in order to join the Confederate Army. Here, he served as the head of the Confederate Ordnance Bureau, as Colonel and Chief Engineer of the Georgia State Forces, as a staff officer for General E. Kirby Smith (during which time he participated in the invasion of Kentucky and was promoted to Brigadier-General), and as Chief of Staff in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Boggs was captured and paroled in 1865, after which he returned to his family. He went on to work as an architect, to teach at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and to serve as Superintendent of Louisiana State University (then called the Louisiana State Seminary). Boggs died on September 15, 1911.
W. R. Boggs married Mary Sophia Symington (1831-1905) on December 19, 1855, and the couple had six known children: William Robertson (1857-1907), Elizabeth McCaw (1858-1922), Archibald (born about 1860), John Symington (1863-1927), Edith Alston (1866-1901), and Henry Patterson (1867-1929). Elizabeth Boggs married William Barrett Taylor, and W. R. Boggs spent the last years of his life in her North Carolina home.
Arrangement
This collection consists of a single folder.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository