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There is no biography of
Captain Raoul in the National Archives. Below is my biography of the
man.
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William G. and Mary Wadley
Raoul
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(Image provided by Emory
University Library)
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William Greene Raoul was born
July 4, 1843 in Louisiana. He joined the Washington Artillery and
fought in numerous battles in the east. In 1864, he was promoted to
Captain in the Quartermaster Department and ordered to report to Lt.
Col. Sims to oversee railroad car production.
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After the war, he returned to
work in the family railcar construction business, at Independence,
La., until it failed in 1870. In 1870, with the help of
father-in-law William Wadley, company President, he moved to Georgia
and began a career on the Central (of Georgia) Railroad. When Wadley
died in 1883, Raoul was elected his successor. He held the position
until he was defeated by E. P. Alexander in 1887. Subsequently, he
was President of several other railroads. He died in 1913 in
Atlanta.
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Raoul married Mary Wadley (born
in 1848) in 1868 in Savannah. They had eleven children. They built
two homes in Atlanta, one of which was on the National Registry of
Places until its destruction by fire.
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Raoul was one of the first to
develop Asheville, North Carolina into a destination, starting in the
1880's.
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When he joined the Washington
Artillery, at age 18, he was officially described as having a light complexion,
5 ft 8 inches tall, with brown hair and gray eyes.
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| March 10, 1862 |
Enlisted in Company
2 of the Washington Artillery in New Orleans. His service record
shows him present from then until he was admitted into Richmond
Hospital #9 on January 18, 1864. He remained absent until his
promotion in March. His service file shows him present at the
following battles:
| Yorktown, Va. |
Apr. 25, 1862 |
| Mechanicsville, Va. |
May --, 1862 |
| Rappahannock Station,
Va. |
Aug. 23, 1862 |
| 2nd Manassas, Va. |
Aug. 30, 1862 |
| Sharpsburg, Md. |
Sept. 16-17, 1862 |
| Fredericksburg, Va. |
Dec. 11-13, 1862 |
| Chancellorsville, Va. |
May 2-3, 1863 |
| Gettysburg, Pa. |
July 3, 1863 |
| Williamsport, Md. |
July 6, 1863 |
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| March 21, 1864 |
Sims requests he be
promoted to Captain and AQM and assigned to Sims to oversee the
construction of 225 railroad cars
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| June 9, 1864 |
Submits his bond
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| June 30, 1864 |
Hired his servant to
be the Railroad Bureau office messenger
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| Paid for trains
standing by
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| July 26, 1864 |
Receives 6 box cars
from the Petersburg Iron Works
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| August 17, 1864 |
Received cars and castings for
cars
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| August 18, 1864 |
Writes QMG regarding
renting a shop for building cars
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| August 22, 1864 |
Received 180 pounds
of waste
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| August 23, 1864 |
Asks about paying
for traveling
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| August 25, 1864 |
Receives 3 box cars
from Petersburg Iron Works
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| September 3, 1864 |
Received castings
for cars
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| September 10, 1864 |
Receives 2 box cars
and 1 box car body from Petersburg Iron Works
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| September 20, 1864 |
Paid for moving and
repairing trucks and a bridge
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| September 30, 1864 |
Paid a carpenter
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| Certified the
purchase of car locks
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| October 1, 1864 |
Receives 1 box car
body from Petersburg Iron Works
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| November 1, 1864 |
Received 6 car
bodies
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| November 4, 1864 |
Advertises for
carpenters in Raleigh
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| November 14, 1864 |
Receives 8 box car
bodies in Raleigh
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| November 21, 1864 |
Pays for 21 casting
for cars
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| December 1, 1864 |
Pays carpenter for 2
months
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| December 7, 1864 |
Buys lumber
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| December 31, 1864 |
Buys car castings
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| February 1, 1865 |
Receives request
from Sims for his proposed reply to an inquiry regarding Raoul's
fitness for managing the building of cars
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| February 8, 1865 |
Tredegar complains
to Sims that it cannot meet Raoul's demands for wheels
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| January 17, 1913 |
Died in Atlanta
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