Optional page text here. Colonel William Fitzhugh

Colonel William Fitzhugh

FITZHUGH, WILLIAM F. (1818-1883). William F. Fitzhugh, soldier, Texas Ranger, and farmer, the son of John and Sarah (Shelton) Fitzhugh, was born in Kentucky in 1818. As a child he moved with his parents to Missouri, and at the age of seventeen he volunteered for service in the Seminole War in Florida. After returning to Missouri he participated in the campaign to expel the Mormonsqv from that state. In 1845 he moved to Texas with his parents and settled just south of the site of present Melissa. He married Mary Rattan and received a 640acre headright. During the Mexican War he served in the First Regiment, Texas Mounted Volunteers, commanded by Col. John Coffee (Jack) Hays. Fitzhugh returned to Collin County after the war and divided his time between farming and serving with the Texas Rangers on the Indian frontier. In March 1862 he entered Confederate service as first colonel of the Sixteenth Texas Cavalry, a regiment that served in the Trans-Mississippi Department. After the war Fitzhugh resumed farming at Melissa. He served as doorkeeper for the Constitutional Convention of 1875 and as Senate doorkeeper for the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth legislatures. On October 23, 1883, he was killed when he was thrown from a wagon. He was first buried in Forest Grove Cemetery near McKinney but was subsequently reinterred in Fairview Cemetery in Denison. He was survived by seven children.

Source: The New Texas Handbook

Texans in the Civil War
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