William Aylett (14 May 1833 – 8 August 1900) was a Colonel of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, commanding the 53rd Virginia Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Biography[]
William Aylett was born in King William County, Virginia on 14 May 1833 to the prominent Aylett family; he was the great-grandson of Patrick Henry, the American Revolutionary War hero. Aylett lived at the family's Montville plantation, and he worked as a lawyer before enlisting in the Confederate States Army at the start of the American Civil War in 1861. Aylett became the colonel of the 53rd Virginia Infantry Regiment, and President John Tyler's grandson Robert Tyler Jones would serve in the regimental color guard. Aylett commanded the regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and it suffered heavy losses during George Pickett's charge. Aylett would return home and father twelve children, and he died in 1900 at the age of 67.