William Lewis Cabell was born in January, 1827 in Danville, Virginia. He graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1850 and served in the 7th U. S. Infantry and staff duty as a quartermaster. In April, 1861 he helped establish the Confederate commissary, quartermaster, and ordnance departments in Richmond, and he was on General Pierre G. T. Beauregard’s staff at Manassas until January, 1862. Six of Cabell’s brothers would also serve in the Confederate army. Cabell was sent west to the Trans-Mississippi Department, where he served under General Earl Van Dorn. Cabell, promoted to brigadier general, was given command of a brigade which saw fighting at Corinth, Iuka and Hatchie’s Bridge, where he was wounded. In February, 1863 Cabell recruited a cavalry brigade in Arkansas and led his men in several battles in Arkansas that year, including fighting at Poison Springs and Devil's Backbone. He was captured at the Battle of Mine Creek in Kansas in 1864. After the war, he returned to Arkansas where he worked as a civil engineer and studied law. In 1872, Cabell and his family moved to Dallas, Texas where he became Mayor two years later. Later in life, he was active in promoting railroads and served as a U. S. Marshall.  He died in Dallas in 1911 and is buried there.