William Tomlinson was born around 1843 in Marshall County, Virginia, to Robert and Elizabeth Tomlinson. His father was a farmer who owned $125 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Moundsville, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), and by 1860, he was working as a day laborer.

 

He remained loyal to the Union, and he enlisted in the Union army on December 4, 1861. He mustered in as a private in Company I of the 3^rd Virginia Infantry, which eventually became the 6^th West Virginia Cavalry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 11 inches tall, with light hair and gray eyes.

 

He remained devoted to the Union, and he hoped that “this great Nation will once more own throughout its limits one Constitution, law will triumph, security will be felt, agriculture prosper, commerce revive—the Star-Spangled banner will kiss the balmy southern breeze as well as revel in the roaring northern blasts.” He contracted typhoid fever in the summer of 1862, and by early 1863, he was suffering from “paralysis of the right arm.” He was discharged for disability on January 16, 1863.

 

He returned to Moundsville after leaving the army, and he earned a living as a stone mason. He married a woman named Sarah, and they had at least three children: Leonora, born around 1866; Zelia, born around 1873; and Perry, born around 1875. His wife died in the 1870s. He was injured in June 1912 after “falling from a buggy,” and local writers feared “the accident will probably prove fatal.” He eventually recovered, but his health remained poor. He was admitted to the local National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in March 1916, and he reported suffering from cardiac hypertrophy and chronic rheumatism. He was discharged in June 1916 at his own request. He died in Moundsville on April 25, 1922.

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