William R. Peck

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William R. Peck

William Raine Peck (January 31, 1831 – January 22, 1871) was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The final commander of the famed Louisiana Tigers, Peck was among the largest Confederate generals at 6' 6" tall and 330 pounds.

William R. Peck was born in rural Jefferson County, Tennessee. His family relocated to Louisiana in the 1840's. As a young adult, he bought a plantation across the Mississippi River from Vicksburg, Mississippi. He prospered and purchased additional land and farms, and eventually became one of the region's wealthiest citizens. He constructed a sprawling mansion, "The Mountain," in Madison Parish not far from the village of Milliken's Bend.

Peck represented Madison Parish for several years in the Louisiana state legislature. A firebrand secessionist and advocate of states' rights, Peck was a signatory to the Louisiana Ordinance of Secession n January of 1861.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Peck, despite his wealth and political connections, enlisted as a private in the 9th Louisiana Infantry. After training at a camp in Louisiana, Peck and his fellow soldiers in the regiment were sent to Virginia, arriving too late for any significant participation in the First Battle of Manassas. Peck was commissioned as an officer and rose through the ranks. He was the lieutenant colonel of the 9th Louisiana during the Gettysburg Campaign and saw action at the Second Battle of Winchester and the Battle of Gettysburg, where he was involved in the twilight attack on Cemetery Hill.

On October 8, 1863, "Big Peck" was promoted to colonel of the 9th Louisiana to succeed Leroy A. Stafford. Colonel Peck led the regiment in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Battle of Cold Harbor in May and June 1864 during the Overland Campaign.

Peck often led the brigade as the senior colonel, and his role in the July 1864 Battle of Monocacy drew praise from his division commander, John B. Gordon.^[1] He was wounded in the right thigh by a shell fragment at the Third Battle of Winchester in September. He did not return to the field until December.^[2] Peck was promoted to brigadier general on February 18, 1865. He was paroled in Vicksburg in June of that year.

Following the Civil War, Peck returned to his Louisiana plantation and resumed active management of the business. Plagued by poor health from his wartime service, he died six years after the war of congestive heart failure. He is buried in the family plot in the Old Methodist section of Westview Cemetery in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

[edit] References

Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.
Welsh, Jack D., Medical Histories of Confederate Generals, Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8733-8649-3.

[edit] Notes

^ Warner, 231.
^ Welsh, 165. Although Warner states that Peck emerged from the war totally unscathed despite his massive frame, Confederate medical records suggest otherwise.