Captain William David Linch
William
David Linch was born in Coweta County, Georgia on February 10, 1840, to David
Linch and Mary Beem.
David
spent his early years on the farm and his education was limited to what the old
log schoolhouse afforded.
He was barely 21 years of
age when the War for Southern Independence started. In May of 1861, he enlisted
as a Private on May 31, 1861 in Company A of the 7th
Regiment Georgia Volunteers in Atlanta, GA. This unit, under the command of
Captain S W Lee, also was known as the Coweta Guards, the Coweta 2nd District
Guards and Coweta District Guards.
He
shows hospitalized in Richmond with typhoid fever in January of 1862. He
recovers enough to be furloughed home on February 4th and returns to his
command on March 20th. He is promoted
to 2nd Lieutenant on May 12, 1862.
He is then shown on the October 1862 roll as a 1st Lieutenant.
This promotion appears to have happened in July of 1862. There is a Federal
record showing him as captured at South Mountain on 9/13/62 and exchanged on
10/2/62. (the capture date here is probably off by a day as the battle they
were in on South Mountain did not occur until 9/14/62) They were up in
Hagerstown on 9/13 and had to scramble back south 13 miles on the morning of
the 14th to help General D H Hill hold the South Mountain passes. He then
appears to be promoted to Captain of Co A on May 25, 1863. The April 1863 roll
shows him sick at a Petersburg hospital so we do not know whether he was at
Chancellorsville or not. He appears to have been at Gettysburg and then at
Chickamauga and Knoxville. He is shown as being admitted to Jackson Hospital
Richmond with a shoulder wound on May 25th, 1864 and is transferred to a
Newnan, GA hospital on June 9th. He returns to his unit sometime prior to
October 7th, 1864 when he receives a "slight" wound to the neck which
occurs at Darbytown Road on that date.
After a brief hospitalization at Jackson Hospital in Richmond, VA, he is furloughed for 30 days. He is back
with his unit on the November/December 1864 roll and then goes on to surrender
with them and General Lee at Appomattox, VA.
Some
of his muster rolls are shown.
His
wife Martha filed for a widow's pension in 1919 and her sister Jeanette (wife of Elijah O Linch) was a witness for her.
Interesting
fact: the final Colonel of this unit was George H Carmichael. He was my half
3rd cousin 4 times removed. He was the
son of William Carmichael and Margaret Hunter.
William David would have not known the relationship between the Linch and Young
families.
After the
war was over, he returned to farming in Turin, GA ( he owned 3,500 acres of
land ). He was in the mercantile business for four years in Newnan, GA. After
which he returned to farming the vast family land.
He
married Martha Elvira Tench on February 23, 1870. She was a sister to Jeanette Tench, his brother Elijah's wife. They
had five children: Mary, Martha Grace, James Andrew, Mary Fluellen and Tench.
He
moved to Senoia, GA, in 1891. He was involved in several businesses in Senoia
as well as the farm.
As
a young man and even as he grew older, he was tall and fine looking with dark
hair and eyes with the military bearing of the ideal soldier and officer.
His
impressive outward appearance was the index of the inner man. He as did his
brother Elijah, inherited from a splendid ancestry, strength of mind, dauntless
courage, and the will to overcome all obstacles.
His
gallant service as a Confederate Officer was in keeping with his nature.
He
was an honorable man and honest in all business dealings. It could be
truthfully said his word was as good as his bond.
He
died November 24, 1906 at the age of 66, and is buried along with his wife at
the Senoia Cemetery in the town of Senoia, Georgia.