William Dorsey Pender was born February 6, 1834 to James and Sarah Routh Pender on a plantation in Edgecombe County near Tarboro. He entered West Point as a Cadet in July 1850. Upon graduation he was assigned to the First Artillery; later transferring to the First Regiment of Dragoons and was promoted to First Lieutenant. As a Lieutenant in the Dragoons he saw active service on the frontier in New Mexico, California, Oregon and Washington, participating in numerous skirmishes with the Indians.
At the outbreak of the Civil War Pender resigned his commission because he could not fight against the South. Commissioned a Captain in the provisional army, he was placed in charge of recruiting in Baltimore, Maryland.
In May 1861, Pender returned to North Carolina as a Regimental Instructor at Raleigh and Garysburg. Elected Colonel of the 3rd North Carolina Volunteers, he was transferred to command the Sixth North Carolina Regiment. Displaying brilliant leadership at the Battle of Seven Pines he was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned to command a brigade in A. P. Hill's Division. Pender ably led his Brigade in the Battle of Seven Days at Richmond, the second battle of Bull Run, The Maryland Campaign, Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
Considered one of the most capable Confederate officers, he was promoted to the rank of Major General at the age of twenty-nine. Placed in command of a Division, he demonstrated his fitness, becoming one of Lee's best Generals. At the battle of Gettysburg, he suffered his fourth wound; he died at Staunton, Virginia following the amputation of a leg on July 18, 1863.
Lee's official report on the gallant young officer read "His promise and usefulness as an officer were only equaled by the purity and excellence of his private live."
General Pender's body was taken to Tarboro and laid to rest in the churchyard of Calvary Parish. His headstone is inscribed "Patriot by Nature, Soldier by Training, Christian by Faith." A window in the church memorializes the General with a favorite quotation of his from Saint Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith."
Fanny Shepperd Pender and sons Samuel Turner and William Dorsey survived the General. A third son, Stephen Lee, was born in the autumn. Widowed at twenty-three, Fanny Pender refused outside help and supported her sons fulfilling her husband's wish that they be educated, in order to be useful people in the New South.
Pender County was formed in the New South, and at the suggestion of Dr. Elisha Porter of Rocky Point, who had served as a Physician under General Pender, the new county was named Pender. Bearing the name of this heroic Christian gentleman of great courage, loyalty and high ideals was a good beginning!