Lieutenant Colonel Wilmot Gibbes DeSaussure (1822-1886)

Wilmot Gibbes DeSaussure was born on 23 July 1822 in Charleston, S.C., the son of Henry William DeSaussure, who was a lawyer, director of the United States Mint, and chancellor of South Carolina. Wilmot G. DeSaussure was a lieutenant colonel in the 1st Artillery Regiment of the South Carolina Militia, which was later absorbed into the Army of the Confederate States of America. DeSaussure commanded Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, December 1860-January 1861, and artillery at Morris Island, March-April 1861, in the Charleston harbor.

DeSaussure was a member of the South Carolina legislature, 1848-1864. On 4 July 1876, he was elected the tenth president of the Society of Cincinnati (his father had been the eighth president) in Charleston. Like the other nine presidents of the Society before him, DeSaussure held this office until his death.

DeSaussure died in Florida, where he had been taken for his health, on 1 February 1886. His remains were returned to Charleston and, after a funeral service at St. Philip’s Church, were interred in Magnolia Cemetery.

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Lieutenant Colonel Wilmot Gibbes DeSaussure (1822-1886) of the 1st Artillery Regiment of the South Carolina Militia, which was later absorbed into the Army of the Confederate States of America, commanded Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, December 1860-January 1861, and artillery at Morris Island, March-April 1861, in the harbor of Charleston, S.C. He served in the South Carolina legislature, 1848-1864. The collection is an order-book kept by DeSaussure that contains orders he received and sent during the secession crisis, 27 December 1860-2 January 1861 and 1 March-30 April 1861. The break in entries was occasioned by DeSaussure’s leaving to assume his legislative duties. Included are several long reports describing in detail the siege of Fort Sumter and the progress of the bombardment.

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Inventory of the Wilmot G. DeSaussure Order-Book, 1860-1861
Collection Number 3330-z
Abstract - http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/htm/03330.html

Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

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