William Wilson Chamberlaine, the son of Richard Henry Chamberlaine and Mary Eliza Wilson Chamberlaine, was born on October 16, 1836, in Norfolk, where his father's family had resided for several generations. After attending Norfolk Military Academy from 1848 until 1852, he entered Hampden-Sydney College in 1852 but remained for only one year. About 1855 he became a clerk at the Norfolk bank of which his father was an officer.
In 1864 Chamberlaine was out of action for about a month recovering from the bite of a water moccasin, and he took a brief leave of absence to marry Matilda Hughes Dillard in Franklin County on April 20 of that year. They had met early in the war while he was chasing slackers in that county. They had two daughters and one son, William Chamberlaine, a brigadier general of coast artillery during World War I (1914–1918).
Chamberlaine was also treasurer and one of the commissioners for the Norfolk City Water Department, a founder in 1884 of the Norfolk Electric Light Company, first president in 1886 of the Savings Bank of Norfolk, and a board member of at least one insurance company. An Episcopalian and a member in good standing of Norfolk's business elite, Chamberlaine moved his residence about 1900 from a prestigious older neighborhood to the fashionable new suburb of Ghent.
In 1910 or 1911 Chamberlaine moved to Washington, D.C. In 1912 he published Memoirs of the Civil War between the Northern and Southern Sections of the United States of America, 1861 to 1865. The modest recounting of his battlefield experiences, written in businesslike and unromantic prose, reveals him to be a bit of a dandy. He offered few comments on the causes or consequences of the Civil War and indulged in no glorification of himself or his fellow officers. A member of one of the Confederate veterans organizations in Norfolk, Chamberlaine remained active after his retirement and in 1921 was elected commander of the District of Columbia's Brigade of Confederate Veterans with the honorary rank of brigadier general. His wife died on September 22, 1922. William Wilson Chamberlaine died in Washington, D.C., on October 19, 1923, and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in the capital.
Major Work
Time Line
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October 16, 1836 - William Wilson Chamberlaine is born in Norfolk, the son of Richard Henry Chamberlaine and Mary Eliza Wilson Chamberlaine.
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1848–1852 - William W. Chamberlaine attends Norfolk Military Academy.
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1852 - William W. Chamberlaine enters Hampden-Sydney College but remains for only one year.
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ca. 1855 - William W. Chamberlaine becomes a clerk at the Norfolk bank of which his father is an officer.
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1859–1860 - Sometime following John Brown's October 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, William W. Chamberlaine joins a volunteer company formed in Norfolk. He is elected a corporal.
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April 1861 - When word reaches Norfolk of Virginia's secession from the Union, Corporal William W. Chamberlaine and his volunteer company go on duty guarding the port.
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May 18, 1862 - William W. Chamberlaine becomes second lieutenant in Company G of the 6th Virginia Infantry Regiment.
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September 17, 1862 - Near Antietam Creek in Maryland, Confederate officer William W. Chamberlaine helps to activate a defective cannon and uses it to delay a Union advance. During a bombardment he is struck in face, fracturing his nose.
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September 18, 1862 - Bruised and bleeding following the Battle of Antietam, Confederate officer William W. Chamberlaine spends the morning in a hospital, and during the afternoon crosses the Potomac River with the retreating Confederate army.
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February 1863 - William W. Chamberlaine is assigned to the Second Corps of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia as adjutant to the chief of artillery.
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1864 - William W. Chamberlaine is out of action for about a month recovering from the bite of a water moccasin.
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April 20, 1864 - William W. Chamberlaine takes a leave of absence to marry Matilda Hughes Dillard in Franklin County. They will have two daughters and one son, William Chamberlaine, who will serve as a brigadier general during World War I.
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1867 - Back in his hometown of Norfolk, Confederate army veteran William W. Chamberlaine becomes a cashier at the Citizens Bank, where his father also works.
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1877 - William W. Chamberlaine resigns from his cashier job at the Citizens Bank in Norfolk and becomes secretary and treasurer of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, which runs eighty miles from Portsmouth to Weldon, North Carolina.
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1884 - William W. Chamberlaine is a founder of the Norfolk Electric Light Company.
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1886 - William W. Chamberlaine serves as the first president of the Savings Bank of Norfolk.
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1894–1898 - William W. Chamberlaine serves as the comptroller of the Seaboard Air Line System, which runs passenger and freight service from Virginia to Georgia.
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1894 - William W. Chamberlaine is elected to the boards of both the Carolina Central Railroad and the Raleigh and Augusta Air-line Railroad, both of which are affiliates of the Seaboard Air Line System.
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1898–1899 - William W. Chamberlaine serves as the secretary of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, an affiliate of the Seaboard Air Line System.
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April 1900 - A new controlling interest reorganizes the Seaboard Air Line System with two other railroads into a new corporate umbrella entity called the Seaboard Air Line Railway. William W. Chamberlaine continues to serve as secretary of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad.
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1904 - William W. Chamberlaine retires from his post as the secretary of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad.
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ca. 1910–1911 - William W. Chamberlaine moves from Norfolk to Washington, D.C.
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1912 - William W. Chamberlaine publishes Memoirs of the Civil War between the Northern and Southern Sections of the United States of America, 1861 to 1865, a modest recounting of his battlefield experiences during the Civil War.
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1921 - William W. Chamberlaine is elected commander of the District of Columbia's Brigade of Confederate Veterans with the honorary rank of brigadier general.
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September 22, 1922 - Matilda Hughes Dillard Chamberlaine, wife of William W. Chamberlaine, dies.
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October 19, 1923 - William W. Chamberlaine dies in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in the capital.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Stewart, P. C., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. William W. Chamberlaine (1836–1923). (2013, August 21). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Chamberlaine_William_W_1836-1923.
- MLA Citation:
Stewart, Peter C. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "William W. Chamberlaine (1836–1923)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 21 Aug. 2013. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: November 11, 2010 | Last modified: August 21, 2013
Contributed by Peter C. Stewart and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography.