Orange County NcArchives Military Records.....McMannen, William E, Colonel November 26, 1862
Civilwar Company B, 6th Regiment, N. C.T.
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Death Of Col. William E. McMannen
The Standard of Raleigh, Nov. 26, 1862
                DEATH OF COL. WILLIAM E. MCMANNEN
  Among the first volunteer companies that responded to the call of the 
Governor of North Carolina in the war was the Flat River Guards from Orange 
County. Of this company, COL. WILLIAM E. MCMANNEN was then second lieutenant.
They were attached to the 6th regiment of State troops under COL. FISHER, 
promptly taking the oath to serve during the war. LIEUTENANT MCMANNEN proved 
himself a faithful and efficient officer during the time that regiment was in 
camp of instruction. About the 10th of July, 1861, they were hurried to 
Virginia to reinforce GEN JOHNSON at Winchester. The trials of the regiment in 
that march were very severe. Before they had time to rest from their fatigue, 
the forced march to Manassas was begun. From Winchester to Piedmont, there was 
an awful amount of suffering as the men were then unused to such privations 
and such exhausting marches. Through all of this LT. MCMANNEN bore a brave and 
cheerful heart. On the 21st he went with his company to the bloody field. He 
entered his first battle with a noble determination and courage. In that 
sanguinary shock, in which his devoted Colonel fell, he braved the leaden 
storm and manfully rallied his men to charge. 
  In the evening, when the impetuous attack was made on the enemy's right, he, 
with a fragment of his regiment, joined in the victorious advance; and when 
their columns broke and fled, he, with the young soldier's enthusiasm, 
followed in the pursuit, until his exhausted frame sank down for repose on the 
field of his triumph. Exposed as he was that night and the day following, his 
Constitution was assailed by a disease which baffled all the skill of his 
physicians, gradually withered his hopeful prospects, and prepared him for a 
soldier's rest in the tomb. For a long while he would not resign, hoping to be 
restored. But in the last of October, he bid adieu to his comrades of the 
glorious old 6th, on the banks of the Potomac, and sought the comfort and rest 
of home. There, his health having improved some, he was made Colonel of the 
45th Regiment of Militia, with directions to superintend the draft. In 
attending to his duty he contracted fresh cold and from that time rapidly gave 
way to the ravages of consumption. In the month of July he repaired to the 
Rockbridge Alum springs, but it soon appeared that his days were numbered. 
There, among friends, though strangers, he closed his brief career on the 14th 
of August, 1862, in the 22nd year of his age, leaving to his sorrowing friends 
at home and comrades in the army the inspiration of the patriotic example, the 
eloquence of a soldier's duty, and the beauty and consolation and glory of a 
Christian's death.

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