David A. Weisiger

David Addison Weisiger (December 23, 1818 – February 23, 1899) was a Confederate States Army brigadier general during the American Civil War (Civil War). Weisiger served as a second lieutenant in the 1st Virginia Volunteers, an infantry regiment, during the Mexican–American War. After the war, he became a leading businessman in Petersburg, Virginia. Between 1853 and 1860, he served in the 39th Virginia Militia Regiment, rising from captain to colonel. After the Civil War, he was a bank cashier at Petersburg, Virginia and a businessman at Richmond, Virginia.

Early and family life David Addison Weisiger was born December 23, 1818, at "The Grove" in Chesterfield County, Virginia. His grandfather Joseph Weisinger had been born in Germany but became Petersburg's mayor in 1792; his father Samuel S. Weisiger became a judge.

Weisinger married at least twice. His first wife died in 1844 and their children never survived infancy. With his second wife, the former Alice Sydnor Barksdale (1835-1856), he had a son, Addison Sydnor Barksdale (1856-1920), who would likewise become a leading citizen of Petersburg.

Virginia militia officer and commission merchant

During the Mexican–American War, Weisinger served in the 1st Virginia Volunteers Infantry Regiment as a second lieutenant of Company E from December 3, 1846, to August 1, 1848. After the war, he became a commission merchant at Petersburg, which was growing rapidly as a transportation hub and industrial center. By 1849, Weisinger was a leading Freemason, and helped to lay a monument honoring General George Washington in 1850 and was elected the lodge's treasurer in 1858. In the 1860 census, he owned 7 enslaved people (45 and 32 year old women and girls aged 14, 9, 8, 5 and an eight year old boy.

Weisinger served successively as captain, major and colonel of the 39th Virginia Militia Regiment between 1853 and 1860. Two Petersburg militia units traveled to Harpers Ferry to keep order during the trial of abolitionist John Brown; Weisinger was officer of the day at Brown's hanging, on December 2, 1859. Shortly after the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 voted for secession, on April 19, 1861, Weisiger swore in his militia companies into military service, but also wrote a complaint to Adjutant General William H. Richardson in Richmond about his shortage of rifles and especially cartridges and shot. Nonetheless, the next day, April 20, he took his battalion by rail to the Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia when after a train ruse by future Confederate general William Mahone, it was abandoned by the U.S. Navy. Weisinger's troops also occupied the nearby city of Norfolk. Weisinger took command of Mahone's brigade at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 7, 1864, following Mahone's wound the previous day.

When Mahone succeeded to division command upon Major General Richard H. Anderson's transfer to temporary command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet's corps. Weisiger remained in command of the brigade despite the initial cancellation of his promotion. Weisiger was wounded again in this battle. Weisiger commanded a brigade in Mahone's division from June 4, 1864, to April 9, 1865. Late that year, as a token of their esteem for his efforts, Petersburg citizens banded together to purchase a horse for Weisinger, although such had become very expensive as a result of the siege.

Weiginger was paroled at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865. He had been wounded three times and had two horses shot from under him. Postwar, death and legacy After the Civil War, Weisiger returned to Petersburg, Virginia where he was a bank cashier. Weisiger moved his business to Richmond, Virginia, where he died on February 23, 1899. He is buried at Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia.