[3][4] Though too young to enlist in the Confederate Army, as a militia cadet William Barksdale fought at the Battle of Staunton River Bridge in 1864 before receiving his degrees and becoming a Virginia lawyer, state senator for Halifax County (part time) and South Boston bank president during this boy's childhood (1897-1905), then circuit judge (initially perhaps the youngest at age 24, but elected to successive terms until his death in 1925).

One brother become a surgeon in Lynchburg, another a Richmond Bank president and one of his sisters was supervisor of elementary education and Sunday school superintendent in Halifax County.

Rising to the rank of captain, Barksdale received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre, and the Chevalier Legion of Honor.

Barksdale discovered that his battalion had advanced ahead of the unit on the right flank, and was suffering heavy losses from machine gun fire.

On October 15 he advanced alone in a thick wood and, with the aid of his pistol, put out of action a destructive machine gun which was pouring such a deadly fire his men could not raise their heads.

Aligned with the Byrd Organization, and following his father's career path, he sat on the Democratic State Central Committee.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals soon reversed him in 1949, which stunned the Richmond News Leader, which printed an editorial by Douglas Southall Freeman acknowledging that 44 Virginia counties and cities had no accredited black high school.