Son of William Allen Withers (1798-1863) & Eliza Perrin (-1848), brother of James S. Withers (1830-) and Jane "Jennie" Withers (1842-)

He married Martha Sharkey, adopted daughter of Mississippi planter Robert Rhea Sharkey and his wife Sallie Booker Sharkey. Together, they had ten children.
**

Harrison County Courier
Saturday 22 June, 1889- Evans D. Veach, Publisher
Volume 2, Number 43
Page 1, Column 2

Death of Gen. W. T. Withers

Gen. William Temple Withers, one of Kentucky's most worthy men, died near Lexington, on Sunday last at 12:30 a.m. aged 64 years, leaving a large family consisting of a wife and ten children, eight daughters and two sons. An only brother, J. S. Withers, cashier of the National Bank of this city, and an only sister, Mrs. Jennie Smith, of New York, also survive him.

Gen. Withers was of Virginia parentage, but was born in this county, Jan. 8 1825. He was educated at Bacon College, Harrodsburg, where he graduated in 1846 and was to have delivered the valedictory address of his class, but before the closing exercises of his term, he had volunteered for the Mexican War, and joined the Mercer County company lettered "C" of the Second Kentucky Regiment, commanded by Col. McKee and Lt. ; Col. Clay. At first made orderly sergeant, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant: for a time served as Aide-de-camp with Generals T. Marshal and W. O. Butler, but when the fighting began, returned to his regiment, was with it till wounded at the bloody battle of Buena Vista, where Col. McKee and Lt. Col. Clay were killed.

A Mexican musket ball struck him in the left hip and passed squarely through the body coming out exactly opposite the point of entrance in his right hip. These Mexican musket balls were very large; they were of iron or copper round and being over three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The ball itself would make a hideous wound, but in this case struck a chain that carried the young Lieutenant's sword and carried a portion of it through the wound making a hideous jagged hole. The desperately wounded man was carried off the field, no one supposing for an instant that he would live beyond a few hours. But a surgical examination showed that the ball had missed the spinal column and the lower intestines. How such a thing was possible is almost beyond conception. But the vigorous young officer soon recovered. The wound healed and not until about seven years ago did he supper any special inconvenience from it. Then the wound broke out afresh; the supposition being that a piece of medal had been left in the wound,, which became encysted as the wound healed. For some reason not known, this encysted protection must have given way and suppuration was set up. At the time of General Withers' life was despaired of. Dr. Boyd of Jackson, MS came to Lexington and nursed the invalid back on convalescence.

In Harrison County, when only 24 years old, Gen. Withers made a canvass for member of the constitutional convention, and although opposed by such able men as Gen. Desha and Capt. Newell, he demonstrated his ability and force of character. Many of his most ardent admirers, and friends told him he could not defeat the old war horses, but that he could be elected to the legislature without opposition. He didn't care for a seat in the Legislature, but did desire a higher fields for his ambition. Under all the circumstances the General, though defeated, made a most creditable contest. He never afterwards sought position.

When a young man, Gen. Withers was married to the daughter of Gov. Sharkey of Mississippi. His home as that of his father was in Jackson. His father, Wm. Withers, was murdered in Jackson during the war by some Federal soldiers.

When the war broke out, Gen. Withers espoused the cause of the South, entering the artillery service and raising to the rank of Brigadier General. He was a trusted officer who always did his duty of a soldier.

Before the war Gen. Withers was a wealthy man, but the fierce tide that swept over the South bereft him of all except the naked lands of his plantations. To recover was apparently hopeless. Coming to Kentucky, he met his brother, Jas.. S. Withers, of this city, who said to him: "You fought for the cause which I believed was right, and have lost all, I have stayed home and have made some money; I have ten thousand dollars in gold which I want you to take and if you ever pay me it is all right, if not, all right." Such timely assistance may have been the foundation on which Gen. Withers built his splendid fortune, but his pluck and indomitable courage would have won under any circumstances.

Gen. Withers funeral took place Tuesday at 2 p.m. from his late residence at "Fairlawn," the following gentlemen acted as pall-bearers: Mr. W. S. McChesney, Mrs. Jas.. W. Woolfolk, Judge Jerry Morton, Judge J. Q. Ward, Prof. A. Fairhurst, Prof. H. H. White, Mr. Jno.. Allen and Major H. C. McDowell.
**
SISTERS And BROTHERS 1680 to the present ...2008 , Virginia, Kentucky, and Oregon

William Temple Withers, born in Harrison Co. KY. on Jan. 8, 1825. He graduated from Bacon College in Harrodsburg in 1846 and volunteered for service in the Mexican War. He joined the Mercer Co. Company of the second Kentucky regiment rising soon to the rank of Lieutenant. He was badly wounded by 2 balls at Buena Vista. He married, Martha Sharkey, 1850, in Grand Gulf, Miss. During the Civil War William Temple Withers was Colonel of the Mississippi Light Artillery being captured at Vicksburg. After having been exchanged he served at Mobile Bay and was finally forced to surrender at Macon, GA. He rose to the rank of General in the Confederate Army. In poor health at the end of the war, Temp returned to Mississippi to find his family destitute, his home burned to the ground,and his father dead. The astute lawyer and businessman had lost his entire fortune. After years of life in Mississippi, he returned to KY. where he established a stud farm, "Fairlawn" for breeding trotting horses near Lexington, KY. He never considered raising race horses. He died there on June 16, 1889, and was buried in Lexington. KY. The couple moved south to Jackson where William practiced Law. In 1851 his 1st child was born, Ida Withers, who became a writer and penned the "Memoris of William Temple Withers'. After the Civil War William became a wealthy man from his cotton and sugar plantations, William also became a family man above all else, as he and Martha Sharkey, had two sons and eight daughters whom he adored. He loved to have his children all about him ... and to hold the ever present baby in his arms ans sing to it, always the cause of hilarity , as he couldn't carry a tune. A marker and bust pay tribute to Gen, Withers in Mississippi's Vicksburg Military Park.
**

Camp Boone, Tennessee was located on Guthrie Road/ (Wilma Rudolph Boulevard) U.S. Route 79 near the Kentucky - Tennessee border at Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee (in the area formerly known as Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee before annexation by Clarksville, Tennessee).

Camp Boone was laid out in early 1861 by three men who had been authorized to raise a Kentucky Regiment for Confederate Service: William T. Withers, Robert A. Johnson (of Louisville, KY) and James Moss (of Columbus, KY). They were soon joined by Robert J. Breckenridge, Jr., (of Lexington, KY) and Lloyd Tilghman (of Paducah, KY).

William Temple "Temp" Withers, a native of Kentucky and a veteran of the Mexican War was living in Mississippi in 1861 and was appointed by Jefferson Davis to help confederate recruiting in Kentucky. He was appointed the rank of temporary General and placed in command of Camp Boone.

Another early camp commander was Simon Bolivar Buckner, CSA. Col. (later Brig. Gen.and the 30th Governor of Kentucky). Roger W. Hanson brought here a regiment of Kentucky State Guards, which became the 2nd Ky. Inf., CSA. Other Kentucky units staging here included the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Ky. Cavalry Regiments
**

Withers, William Temple (1825-1889)
Section F-1, Lot 9
A native of Harrison County, William Temple Withers became a lawyer and planter in Mississippi and Louisiana. He served in the Mexican War and as a colonel in the Confederate Army. He moved to Lexington in 1871 and soon established Fairlawn Farm at the north end of Broadway, which became a leading thoroughbred and harness horse establishment.