William B. (probably Benton) Field was the first son and third of eight children born to Elswick Sherwood Field (1808-1867) and Guilianna L. Lindsay (1807-1885). His father built and ran cotton mills across North Carolina. The family moved from Greensboro to Gaston County around 1850. Elswick had been associated with the Mt. Hecla Cotton Mill in Greensboro, and when Thomas Randolph Tate, the owner of the mill, determined to move it to Mountain Island in Gaston County, Elswick was in charge of the construction and running of the new Mountain Island mill. Elswick and Guilianna and their younger children had moved to Leaksville by 1860, and were in Caldwell County after the war, but William appears to have remained in Gaston. He enlisted as a sergeant in Co. C, First NC Cavalry, Confederate States Army, at Charlotte on 27 May 1861. He gave his age as 25, and place of residence as Gaston Co. He was promoted to Full Lieutenant 3rd Class on 30 April 1862, was a prisoner of war on 28 June 1862 at Richmond, Va. (Confined Fort Warren, Boston Harbor). Exchanged on 5 August 1862 at Aiken's Landing, Va. Wounded on 21 June 1863 at Middleburg, Va. Promoted to Full Lieutenant 2nd Class on 16 August 1864. He died in Gaston County on 27 May 1865, and was buried at the Castanea Presbyterian Church....which is rather unusual since the rest of his family, except for his youngest brother, John Andrew Field (1846-1883, my 2nd great grandfather), appear to have been Methodists. John Andrew was also a Presbyterian, after his marriage in Oct. 1865, to Mary Adeline Wilkinson. As far as I know, William never married. He was only 29 at the time of his death, which occurred in the same month that the last Confederate forces in North Carolina surrendered.