|
William Yarnell Slack was born on August 1, 1816, in Mason Count, Kentucky. When he was three years old, his family moved to Missouri, and settled near Columbia. Slack studied law, and opened an office in Chillicothe, Missouri. He interrupted his law practice to serve in the Mexican War, then returned to it after the war ended. When the secession crisis hit Missouri, Slack sided with the Confederacy. Appointed brigadier general of the State Guard, he led troops at Carthage, and was wounded at Wilson's Creek. He recovered from the wound by October of 1861, he returned to his division and fought at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, where he was wounded again. He seemed to recover from the second wound, which was inflicted only an inch away from his first wound. When surgeons took Slack seven miles away, to Moore's Mill, in order to avoid capture, his health deteriorated rapidly. Slack died at Moore's Mill, on March 21, 1862, and was posthumously promoted to brigadier general, to rank from April 22, 1861.
|
