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On the 7th February, 1863, I resigned my commission in the
Confederate States Army.
On the 14th
General Whiting wrote:
I received your note with great sorrow.
It leaves me in the dark about the causes of so serious a step.
I suppose unwarranted interference with your command is the immediate reason.
On the 23d of the same month he wrote: ‘I know you have a great deal of injustice to put up with and, harder yet, I see the
Secretary of War interfering in the subordinate details of your command; but remember what you told me when I, too, was smarting under injustice of no common kind.’
From the time he entered the
Confederate service as
Chief Engineer at
Charleston,
Whiting, in every position he was called upon to fill, proved himself to be a thoroughly competent officer.
His great natural ability was supplemented by a high order of education and systematic study of his profession.
His good influence over officers and men under him was unbounded; and he was thoroughly loyal and true to those who were placed over him.
His extraordinary skill as a military engineer was fully exemplified in the defensive works he planned and constructed for the defense of the approaches to
Wilmington; and, I am convinced, that in the final attack of the
Federals upon that place,
President Davis, by superseding
General Whiting at the eleventh hour and depriving him of supreme control over the defences he had created, made a sad mistake.
In private life, in every relation, he was always a warm-hearted, high-toned gentleman, respected and beloved for his great worth.
His death, from wounds received when
Wilmington fell, was deeply lamented by all Federal, as well as Confederate, officers who knew him.
Very truly yours,
of the army writing of their own accord to entreat him not to decline the tardy recognition, but to accept and work on for the good of the cause.
