William S. Shepherd was born around 1835 in Georgia, to Albert Shepherd and Anne Smith. His father probably died before 1850, and his mother raised him and his sister on her own. By 1860, the family owned $11,000 of real estate and $11,300 of personal property, including at least 13 enslaved laborers. Shepherd worked as a lawyer in Wynton, Georgia. He enlisted in the Confederate army on April 16, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company G of the 2^nd Georgia Infantry later that day. He was promoted to captain on July 24, 1861 and ultimately received promotions to lieutenant colonel. The Confederate army assigned the regiment to the Army of Northern Virginia, and it took part in the Seven Days Battles and the Battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. He was wounded in September 1864 and again in January 1865.

 

Shepherd returned to his mother’s household in Muscogee County, Georgia, after the war. By 1870, he was working as a farmer, and the family owned $47,000 of real estate and $10,000 of personal property. By 1900, he was living in his sister’s household in Muscogee County. He died there of pulmonary edema on June 24, 1924.

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