. Lives of distinguished North Carolinians . ndedinterests and slaves. On one of these plantations, inheritedby his father, General Fender was born. His mother wasSarah Routh, a sister of the mother of the late Hon. R. , and the daughter of William Routh, Esq., of Tide-water, Virginia. General Fender lived where he was born until he wasfifteen years of age, when he entered, as a clerk, the store ofhis brother, Mr. Robert D. Fender, in Tarboro. This em-ployment was distasteful to him from the first. The martialspirit was already strongly developed in him, and the oppor-tunity soon pre
. Lives of distinguished North Carolinians . ndedinterests and slaves. On one of these plantations, inheritedby his father, General Fender was born. His mother wasSarah Routh, a sister of the mother of the late Hon. R. , and the daughter of William Routh, Esq., of Tide-water, Virginia. General Fender lived where he was born until he wasfifteen years of age, when he entered, as a clerk, the store ofhis brother, Mr. Robert D. Fender, in Tarboro. This em-ployment was distasteful to him from the first. The martialspirit was already strongly developed in him, and the oppor-tunity soon presented itself for him to begin a military educa-tion and training. He entered the Military Academy atWest Point as a cadet on the first of July, 1850, having beenrecommended as a suitable candidate by the Hon. ThomasRuffin, who was then the member of Congress from his dis-trict. The friendship of Mr. R. R. Bridgers, which lastedthrough life, procured for him the appointment. He wasgraduated in 1854, standing nineteenth in his class. In this. WILLIAM D. RENDER. WILLIAM D. FENDER. 437 class were G. AY. Custis Lee, Stephen D. Lee, J. E. and other distinguished military men. As cadet hewas modest and unassuming in his intercourse with his fel-lows, respectful to his instructors and tractable to the dis-cipline of the institution. Upon his graduation he wasassigned to the First Artillery as Brevet Second Lieutenantand the same year was made Second Lieutenant of the SecondArtillery. In the year 1855 he was transferred, at his ownrequest, to the First Regiment of Dragoons, and in 1858 waspromoted to a first lieutenancy. From the time he enteredthe dragoons he saw service in the field in all its phases, camp,frontier, and scouting; fighting in JSTew Mexico, California,AYushington and Oregon. He was engaged in many skir-mishes, and in as many as three battles with the Indians—onef the engagements being with the Apaches at Amalgre Moun-tain, on March 20, 1856; another at the F
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