In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

7 1 YOUNG PENDER (1834–54) Don’t be facetious, Mr. Pender. —west point mathematics professor guy peck Swinging arms marching from M[ess] H[all] at dinner. —one of cadet william dorsey pender’s west point infractions W illiam Dorsey Pender remained a proud North Carolinian for all of his brief twenty-nine years. Although his antecedents hailed from Virginia, his parents, James and Sarah Routh Pender, were longtime residents of the area near the small community of Tarboro, in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. James engaged in farming as his principle occupation and owned a substantial amount of property along Town Creek. He and Sarah also raised a family, adding a son to it on February 6, 1834. Dorsey, as he was known in family circles, was the youngest of three boys and a girl. The eldest was Robert, born in 1820, already into his teenaged years when his brother came into the world. Their sister, Patience , was next in age, born in 1828. The third child, David, preceded the last sibling by three years (1831). The two youngest boys were closest in age and appeared to have created a special bond between them. In writing to his wife years later, Dorsey described David as “my most beloved relative.” James Pender established himself as a successful planter on land that had passed down from the earliest settlement of the Penders in colonial America. By 1850 his holdings included over five hundred acres and twenty-one slaves. This level of property ownership placed the family in the upper echelons of Edgecombe citizenry. The population levels a decade later set the number of slaves higher than whites in the county, with a modest listing of free blacks confederate general william dorsey pender 8 and persons of foreign birth. Although Dorsey would be well established in a life outside the region of his birth and youth, he remained in close contact with family members and held emotional ties to the Tarboro area in particular for the remainder of his years. Growing up on the family’s extended acreage in rural eastern North Carolina , Pender had the world as his playground and two older brothers with whom he could share experiences and from whom he could learn life’s lessons. Dorsey’s son Samuel Turner later recorded that his father spent his youthful years “in the labors of the farm and the usual sports of country life—riding, hunting, fishing, etc.” It had to have been an idyllic world filled with youthful adventure. Dorsey’s subsequent life offered glimpses of the development his personality and character underwent in those formative years. He would later refer to Town Creek with nostalgic affection, though at the same time with the realization that he had reasons for leaving that life behind him when he did. “I am very anxious to know how you will stand the exceeding quiet and dullness at Town Creek,” he commented to his wife in late 1861. “I know I could not stand it and how you will I cannot imagine.” Doting parents who wanted the best for their youngest child characterized his world at that time in his life as well. Dorsey revealed this bond between himself and his parents to his wife as she contemplated living with them for a time during the war. “They are fond parents,” he explained to Fanny, “both fond and proud of me. I am the pride of Papa’s life. You will be surprised to see how proud of me he is, although he says but little at home about me.” Perhaps the father’s inability to communicate openly such feelings with his son pushed the boy, and later the young man, to even greater achievements. Certainly, Pender never lost a sense of insecurity about himself, which he exposed occasionally in his public actions and frequently in his private expressions . Throughout his life, that same gnawing factor provided a springboard for the ambition that propelled him forward. Although spiritual faith would help define his adult life, Dorsey left no indication from his childhood that either of his parents practiced any form of religious faith. Historian William Hassler observed that James and Sarah “provided absolutely no religious climate for the Pender children.” He added, “Consequently, Dorsey grew to manhood a non-Christian, who was ignorant of the Bible.” As Pender became increasingly attuned to his own religious development , under the powerful influence of his wife, he sought opportunities to open a...

Share