William McKendree Robbins was the second Southern member appointed to the Gettysburg Park Commission. Having fought here with the 4th Alabama Infantry, he had an interest in preserving the field.
William was born 1828 in Trinity, North Carolina. He studied the law and opened a practice before the war in Eufaula, Alabama. He was Captain of Company G of the 4th Alabama. They fought on 2 July on the southwest side of Little Round Top, and on 3 July they assisted in the repulse of Farnsworth's Charge. Robbins was promoted to Major after Chickamauga. He was wounded at the Plank Road during the Wilderness. After the war Robbins served the state of North Carolina in the US Congress from 1873 to 1879.
A 1893 Act of Congress created the Gettysburg Park Commission. It was established 3 Mar 1893 by the War Department. The Commission was to be made up by three men, the Park Historian, John Batchelder, a Union Veteran, John Page Nicholson, and a Confederate Veteran, William Forney. After Forney's death 16 Jan 1894, President Grover Cleveland appointed William Robbins to the Park Commission as its southern member.
The Commission set out to add lands to the park on which the Confederate lines were located. They had roads built and improved. It is also at this time that tablets and markers were placed on the field. Among these were a 1899 proposal for each Confederate Regiment to have their position market with a tablet. The only Confederate regiment to take advantage of this was the 4th Alabama. This marker is thought to have been paid for by Robbins himself. It was placed in it's location on West Confederate Ave to the North of the Alabama State Monument.
William Robbins died 5 May 1905 in Salisbury, North Carolina and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Statesville, NC.
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