William R. Boggs

William Robertson Boggs ( born March 18, 1829 in Augusta, Georgia, † September 11, 1911 in Winston- Salem, North Carolina) was an officer of the U.S. Army, Brigadier General of the Confederate Army in the Civil War and professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Virginia.

Life

Boggs was born in Augusta, Georgia. He attended the Augusta Academy and won a scholarship to the military academy at West Point, New York. He finished his studies in 1853 as the fourth best in his class and served as a lieutenant in the engineer corps. A year later he was promoted to first lieutenant, transferred to Louisiana in 1859 and promoted to captain.

In 1861 he went to Charleston, South Carolina, where he served under Brigadier General Beauregard. Later he was transferred to Pensacola, Florida, and took over the command of the engineer corps and the artillery of Major-General Bragg. Beauregard and Bragg confirmed him his skills and leadership qualities. As a result, Boggs was appointed in 1862 to pioneer leader in Georgia. On November 4, 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general after serving under Major General Pemberton in Georgia and Florida.

After the Civil War to 1875 Boggs worked as an architect, as a railroad engineer in construction and as a mining engineer in St. Louis, Missouri. Later he became a professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Virginia. His time as a retiree he spent in Winston- Salem, North Carolina, where he died on 11 September 1911 at the age of 82 years.