William T. Wofford served as a captain in the Mexican War. After the war, he was in the Georgia state legislature. As a member of the state convention in 1861, he voted against secession. When Georgia seceded, he joined the 18th Georgia Infantry as colonel.
His regiment was later assigned to General John Bell Hood’s Texas Brigade. As part of this brigade, Wofford and his men fought at Yorktown, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Sharpsburg, and Antietam.
In November of 1862, 18th Georgia was transferred to the Georgia Brigade. Wofford was promoted to brigadier general on January 17, 1863.
He served with the Army of Northern Virginia until Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown asked him to assume command of the Department of North Georgia around the end of 1864.
Georgia’s citizens needed protection from guerrilla attacks. Wofford strengthened his forces with stragglers, deserters—any available men. He commanded this department until May 12, 1865.
Lee and others had already surrendered when letters between Union Brigadier General Henry M. Judah and Wofford were exchanged. Union Colonel Louis Merrill believed there to be about 10,000 soldiers in Wofford’s command.
About a third of this number surrendered—the rest deserted.
A sign in Kingston, Georgia, located at the intersection of Church Street and West Main Street, marks where the surrender occurred.
-Sandra Merville Hart
Sources
“Conclusion of the American Civil War,” Wikipedia.com, 2018/03/21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conclusion_of_the_American_Civil_War.
“Conclusion of the American Civil War,” Wikiwand.com, 2018/03/22 http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Conclusion_of_the_American_Civil_War.
Long, E.B. and Long, Barbara. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac 1861-1865, A Da Capo Paperback, 1971.
Plante, Trevor K. “Ending the Bloodshed,” National Archives, 2018/03/21
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2015/spring/cw-surrenders.html.
“W.T. Wofford (1824-1884),” New Georgia Encyclopedia, 2018/04/21 https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/w-t-wofford-1824-1884.
Sandra Merville Hart 