William Lee
(Pasquotank County)
Featured Character – A Soldier's Life
class=;
"Yankee
Peddler"
Courtesy of John Ehninger, 1858, Newark
Museum
Born in
1843, William Lee came from the lower echelons of Albemarle
society. His father, known
only as D. Lee, worked as a mariner. The family lived in a
house valued
at only $500 by the census taker in 1850. The 1860 Census
lists his wife
Ellen as head of the house, implying that D. Lee no longer
lives. In an
age of ever increasing property values, the Lee’s home decreased, to
only
$300. The 1860 Census lists William Lee’s occupation as
“peddler.”
In the antebellum South, the majority of traveling salesmen entered the
profession because they found no other suitable work, usually due to
either a
physical disability or ailment. Due to his later experience
in the Confederate
army, this adage probably applies to William Lee. On November
16, 1861,
William Lee joined the 5th North Carolina Infantry as a
private. The
enlistment officer listed his occupation as “huckster,” a
nickname
for peddlers. After filling its ranks, the regiment joined
the
Confederate Army massing in northern Virginia.
William Lee’s service in the frontline defense of the Confederacy
proved
short-lived, however. On December 21, 1861, he received a
discharge for
“general disability.” William P. Lee does not appear in the
1870 Census,
an indication of his possible death. A Bible given to William
Lee at his
enlistment by the ladies of Elizabeth City
passed through the
hands of his sister’s family.