William E . Starke William Edwin Starke ( 1814 – September 17 , 1862 ) was a wealthy Gulf Coast businessman and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . He was killed in action at the Battle of Antietam while commanding the famed " Stonewall Division , " a unit first made famous under Stonewall Jackson . Early life and career . Starke was born in Brunswick County , Virginia . His younger brother Peter Burwell Starke also became a general in the Confederate army , as well as a Mississippi politician . Prior to the Civil War , the brothers worked in the family ' s stagecoach business that operated between Lawrenceville and Petersburg , Virginia . In 1840 , William Starke moved to the South , becoming a successful cotton broker in Mobile , Alabama , and New Orleans , Louisiana . In 1858 , he purchased the SS " Texas Ranger " , a former supply ship , from the Federal government and used it to haul cotton to his customers . Starke was married to Louisa Grey Hicks , the daughter of a prominent Brunswick County businessman . Their daughter Sallie was born in Melrose , Alabama . Civil War . At the outbreak of the Civil War early in 1861 , despite his lack of formal military education , Starke was named as the lieutenant colonel of the 53rd Virginia Infantry until June . He subsequently was an aide - de - camp to Gen . Robert S . Garnett in western Virginia , but was without a position following Garnett ' s death in the Battle of Corrick ' s Ford . His coolness and judgment in the midst of the confusion that followed the death of General Garnett were highly commended by Colonel William B . Taliaferro , who succeeded to command . He temporarily served on the staff of Robert E . Lee in August 1861 . Later in the year , he received a commission as the colonel of the 60th Virginia Infantry . He led the regiment during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign . He was wounded in the hand during the Seven Days Battles on June 26 , 1862 , but resumed his duties after a three - day recovery period before finally relinquishing command after the battle . For his gallant efforts during the fighting , he was commended twice and then promoted to brigadier general on August 6 , 1862 . He was assigned command of the Second Louisiana Brigade . He led the Stonewall Division during the Second Battle of Manassas following the wounding of General Taliaferro . For unknown reasons , Jackson decided not to leave him in permanent command , appointing a staff officer ( John R . Jones ) instead . In mid - September , Starke ' s Brigade was part of the force under Stonewall Jackson that captured the large Union garrison at Harpers Ferry , after which they marched into Sharpsburg , Maryland , on September 16 . A strong Union attack on the morning of September 17 drove back the Confederate lines . Starke was shot three times and died within an hour . He was one of six generals killed or mortally wounded at Antietam . His body was buried in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond , Virginia , next to his son who had been killed two months earlier at the Battle of Seven Pines . Memorialization . Col . Bradley T . Johnson , in his official report on Second Manassas , wrote concerning the death of Starke : I cannot forbear doing but scant justice to a gallant soldier now no more . It was my fortune during the two days of battle , during which he commanded the division , to be thrown constantly in contact with Brigadier - General Starke . The buoyant dash with which he led his brigade into the most withering fire on Friday , though then in command of the division ; the force he showed in the handling of this command ; the coolness and judgment which distinguished him in action , made him to me a marked man , and I regretted his early death as a great loss to the army and the cause . Fellow Confederate officer Clement A . Evans later wrote , " His name deserves lasting remembrance in association with the Stonewall division . " A mortuary cannon on the Antietam Battlefield marks the approximate place where Starke was shot the third time , west of the Hagerstown Turnpike in the West Woods area . It was dedicated in October 1897 .