William Lyne Wilson was only seventeen and a half years old when South Carolina, voted for succession from the United States of America and sparked the Civil War into life. A native Virginian, Wilson, without hesitation, but with some foreboding, volunteered to join his southern brothers in arms in the Confederate Army. He was drafted into the 12th Virginia Cavalry, the Army of North Virginia, and would fight with courage and gallantry in the Shenandoah Valley, Maryland and all the way to Appomattox.