William W. Walthour

  General Notes:

William W. Walthour was born in Hempfield Township in 1843. In 1861, at the age of 18, he enrolled as a Private in Company I, the Eleventh Regiment of Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers. This Regiment was made up of 1890 men.
It was a war like no other where our great country was divided; brother fought against brother; and over 618,000 soldiers died. Those casualties were greater than the casualties from the Revolutionary War through the Korean War.
Private Walthour entered into action in more than 18 battles in the Civil War. Some of those battles were Cedar Mountain, Thoroughfare Gap, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Hatcher's Run and Rappahannock. He was wounded twice, once in the leg by a mini-ball at the Second Bull Run; and secondly, shot through the shoulder at the Battle of the Wilderness. But the most important battle, and certainly the turning point of the Civil War, was the Battle of Gettysburg.
This battle claimed the most casualties with soldiers missing, wounded, or dead - over 50,000. Only those soldiers who fought in that great battle had their names engraved on the Pennsylvania Monument which stands on the Gettysburg Battlefield.
And, there you will find the name of W. W. Walthour engraved on the historic monument under Company I, Eleventh Regiment of Pennsylvania Infantry Volunteers. He served two enlistments, the second one as a First Sergeant. By the time the men were discharged, 1650 men had died. Only 240 men had survived.
William Walthour was discharged September 5, 1865, at Philadelphia. He died at the age of 83 in 1926 and was buried with GAR Ritualistic Services at Harrold's Cemetery.

William married Mary Jane Keener.