William Henry Chew enlisted as a private on May 11, 1861 in Co. A of Clinch Rifles, 5th Georgia Infantry. He was discharged because of disability in August of 1862. In the same month he enlisted with 21st Battalion, Georgia Cavalry as a private in Co. A. He was commissioned 2nd Lt. 06/01/1863.

When the 7th regiment, Georgia Cavalry was organized through consolidation, Lt. Chew was assigned to Co. A of the 7th. He was reported as absent in June 1864, in the hands of the enemy having been captured near Trevillian Station on June 11, 1864.

He was sent to Point Lookout then to Ft. Delaware. Two months later he was sent to Charleston, SC as one of 600 officers who came to be known as the Immortal 600. He also spent time at Ft. Pulaski and back to Ft. Delaware in March 1865. In June 1864 he was released after taking the oath.

After returning home, he married in 1867 and fathered 3 children in Burke County, Ga. He moved to Augusta and became a cotton broker. In 1886 he moved to New York, still as a cotton broker. W.H. Chew died there in 1902 and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Augusta, Ga.


Back to Roster