Brigadier General William Henry Sebring

William Henry Sebring was born December 25, 1840 in St. Louis, MO. His early years were spent on a farm before he enrolled in an academy in St. Louis. At 18 years of age he became a resident of Memphis, TN where he read law under Thomas D. Eldridge. During the War Between the States he mustered up on April 1, 1861 with the 2nd Tennessee Regiment before joining the Carolina Greys as a private. He sustained an abdominal wound in combat with Federal forces. Upon his recovery Sebring was transferred to the Confederate Secret Service. On July 15, 1863, while carrying a dispatch from the Confederate War Department located in Richmond, VA, Sebring was captured. He was charged with spying and sentenced to death. On June 18, 1864 he escaped and returned to Richmond. He surrendered at Mount Sterling, KY on April 30, 1865. After the war Sebring relocated to Florida and served as Levy County judge in Bronson, FL from 1877-80. He was appointed Brigadier General in the Florida Militia troops in 1884. He was elected Mayor of Jacksonville, FL from 1907-09. While at his daughter’s house in Swannanoa, NC, Sebring died on February 14, 1926 at the age of 85. He was buried 3 days later in the Masonic section of Evergreen Cemetery located in Jacksonville, FL. His headstone was dedicated in a ceremony honoring Sebring on November 28, 2009. Members of the Solomon Lodge No. 20 of the Free and Accepted Masons, where Sebring had once been a member, paid $600 for his headstone made of South Carolina marble. The Sons of Confederate Veterans Kirby-Smith Camp #1209 conducted the dedication ceremony to honor their past Commander. Commander General of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #1209, Burgaw, NC, is a relative of General Sebring.