Captain William Henry Coit (CSA)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35052779/william-henry-coit

William Henry Coit was the son of John Caulkins Coit and Ellen Phoebe North. He married Anna Maria Summerell in 1867 in Raleigh NC. Anna Maria was the granddaughter of Dr. Elisha Mitchel of Chapel Hill. Her grandmother was Maria Sybil North Mitchell, a sister of Ellen Phoebe North Coit, the second wife of John Caulkins Coit.

William Henry Coit grew up in Cheraw, SC. He graduated at the "Citadel" (South Carolina Military Academy) at Charleston SC which then ranked as the "West Point of the South." He taught for a while at a military academy in South Carolina.

At the outbreak of the war, he organized a company of volunteers.This company, after being drilled and trained by Capt. Coit and furnished with homemade uniforms by a group of ladies led by his sister Henrietta Malloy, offered its services to the Governor of the State. It was accepted and enrolled in the 8th Regiment of Confederate Volunteers. Original officers of this company were: Capt. W.H. Coit, 1st Lieut Thomas E Pewe, 2nc Lieut. David McIver, 3rd Lieut. Rob Evans, Orderly Sergeant Theo F. Malloy. Capt. Coit served one year with this company, after which he was transferred to the artillery and organized "Coit's Battery" with which he fought under Generals Longstreet and Hood all through the war. He took part in many battles in central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, including the invasion of Pennsylvania and the Battle of Gettysburg, in which he took full part. He surrendered with Lee's army at Appomattox, April 9, 1865.

After the surrender, Capt. Coit was paroled and allowed to retain his horse. He rode south. For a while he engaged in mercantile business in South Carolina. After marriage, he and his wife went to Poughkeepsie NY where he attended business college in 1868. Returning to Mayesville, SC he taught school (conducted Coit's Military and Commercial Academy) 1869-1872. In October 1872 he removed with his family to Texas where he taught school at various places, principally at San Antonio and lastly at Dallas where he owned a farm. Selling this farm, he acquired another near Temple OK where he resided at the time of his death. His body was taken to Dallas and interred next to his brother John Taylor Coit at the Frankford Cemetery.

During the war, Capt. Coit wrote many long and highly interesting letters home, including a very excellent account of the battle of Gettysburg, during all of which his battery was in full action. Seventy of these letters are well preserved and in possession of the family. (abbreviated story from Henry Campbell Coit's papers)