William B. Liverman
(Tyrrell County)
Featured Character – A Soldier's Life
Union
Recruiting Poster
Courtesy of Henry Toole Clark Papers,
North Carolina State Archives
William B. Liverman, a Tyrrell
County
native, died a prisoner of war in Richmond,
Va.
on March 24, 1864. A shoemaker by trade, he married Jennetta Jones
daughter of Thomas Jones who was also a shoemaker and likely taught William the
trade. William and Jennetta settled in Craven
County
just prior the outbreak of the Civil War. As the war progressed, William
joined the North Carolina
men who fought for the Union.
He was in Company F, 2nd North Carolina Union Volunteers. His
company was part of the defenses of New
Bern and was stationed at Beech
Grove in February 1864 when Confederate forces attacked and captured that
outpost. William escaped the fate of twenty-two of his comrades who were
hanged at Kinston by order of Confederate General George E. Pickett for
desertion from the Confederate army – William had never joined or been
conscripted to the Confederate army. Whether sick before he was sent to Richmond or whether he
became sick in Richmond,
his death from diarrhea came within two months of his capture. His
youngest son William Alford Liverman was born three months after his death.