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VITAL STATISTICS
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BORN: 1817 in Cecil County, MD.
DIED: 1871 in Fairfax County, VA.
CAMPAIGNS: Island #10.
HIGHEST RANK ACHIEVED: Brigadier General
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BIOGRAPHY
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| William Whann Mackall was born on January 18, 1817, in Cecil County, Maryland. He graduated from West Point in 1837, then served in the Seminole and Mexican Wars. In May of 1861, he was offered a staff position in the Union army, but declined and joined the Confederate army. Supporting Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard over Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston; Mackall was promoted to brigadier general as of February 27, 1862, due to Beauregard's influence. After he was placed in command of Island No. 10, he lost it to the Union in April of 1862. He was captured, and later exchanged. After serving in Tennessee and the District of the Gulf, he was appointed chief of staff of the Army of Tennessee, as per his West Point classmate Gen. Braxton Bragg's request. Mackall began in April, but did not like his new position . He requested relief, and left after the end of September. Another position, that of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's chief of staff, also dissatisfied him, and he again requested relief. After his request was granted, Mackall received no further assignments, and surrendered himself to the Union in Macon, Georgia on April 20, 1865. After the Civil War, Mackall became a farmer and real estate speculator. He died on August 12, 1891, on one of his farms in Fairfax County, Virginia. |
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