William H. Whitfield, who served with distinction as a member of Mahone's brigade of the army of Northern Virginia, was one of a family of southeastern Virginia which contributed with patriotic devotion to the military service of the commonwealth. The father was Cordia C. Whitfield, of Southampton county, and he was of a family long identified with the development of that section, founded in Virginia by his grandfather, Reuben Whitfield, of England. He married Lucy Sanders, daughter of Jesse Sanders, a native of Vermont, who came to Virginia as an engineer during the survey of the Seaboard Air Line railway line, and married Miss Susan Cross, of North Carolina. Cordia C. Whitfield gave three of his sons to Virginia as soldiers. One of these, Henry L. Whitfield, served in the army of Tennessee, and after going through a series of famous campaigns and battles, lost his life in the great Western battle of Chickamauga, September 20, 1863. William H. Whitfield, mentioned in the opening of this sketch, enlisted in Company H of the Forty-first Virginia infantry, Mahone's brigade, and notwithstanding serious wounds received at the battle of Malvern Hill, went through the subsequent campaigns of the army of Northern Virginia to the end. Argal C. Whitfield, a third son, served in the same company, regiment and brigade, until captured at Yellow Tavern, August 19, 1864, after which he was held as a prisoner at Point Lookout until after the close of the war. The latter two sons have both died since the war. A surviving son, Thomas J. Whitfield, now residing in Nansemond county, was born in Southampton county in 1852. Too young for service in the field, he nevertheless did what he could. In February, 1864, he accompanied his father to Richmond to visit a brother who lay there wounded, and he remained as a nurse and attendant in Chimborazo hospital until November of that year, serving faithfully in the care of the suffering heroes, and gaining a vivid impression of the horrors of war. After the war he was associated with his father on the home farm until 1886, when he removed to his estate near Suffolk. Since 1893 he has resided at his present comfortable farm home near the latter city. In December, 1887, he was married to Anna, daughter of Seth Benton, of Gates county. She also had three brothers in the Confederate army, Thomas, who was killed at Gettysburg, Mills and Isaac Benton.
Captain John S. Whitworth, of Berkley, a gallant veteran of Mahone's brigade, was born at Manchester, Va., September 15, 1836. His parents, John and Sallie (Stundsfield) Whitworth, were natives of England, where they were married before coming to America in 1828. They made their home at Manchester, Va., and many years after died there within a few hours of each other, and were interred in the same grave at Hollywood, Richmond. Captain Whitworth was reared and educated at Manchester, and then was apprenticed to Talbott & Brothers, machinists and manufacturers, for four years, learning thoroughly the trade of a machinist, which he followed prior to 1861. Meanwhile he had become a member of a volunteer military company, called the Rocky Ridge Rifles, with which he served at Harper's Ferry during the attempted insurrection of 1859. Having had this preliminary experience he entered the service of Virginia in April, 1861, as second junior lieutenant of Company I of the Sixth Virginia infantry
