The second-most recognized Culp in history is Wesley’s brother William Culp. The two cannot be separated because they have come to be emblematic of “brother against brother” Civil War. In fact, unveiled in 2013 is a monument on Steinwehr Avenue with the face of William pointing north and the face of Wesley pointing south.

Legends of the brothers survive in varying tales. The starkest version says that William was so incensed by his brother’s fighting for the South that he never permitted the name Wesley Culp to be spoken in his presence. No less an authority than Harry Pfanz, so its substance may be more than just legend. William appears to have been the prototypical oldest child. He was born to Esaias Jesse Culp (who went by Jesse) and Margaret Esther Sutherland in 1831, the firstborn of their four children who reached adulthood. William was four years older than his nearest sibling, Anna, and fully eight years older than Wesley. Wesley would have been less a peer to William than someone who had to be dealt with and tended to.

Jesse Culp was a tailor, as were Johnston Skelly Sr. and Captain James Wade. Their families overlapped and were close. None of these families were wealthy, and at least some evidence suggests that many townspeople looked down on the Wades owing to Captain Wade’s lawbreaking and mental health issues. The Culps descended from Peter Kolb who changed his name to Culp. His progeny were all over Gettysburg working in anything from cabinet making to tailoring to management at the Adams County Alms House (Jesse’s cousin Jacob and his family lived at the premises and served the population; they may well have been working with James Wade when the war opened).

It’s probably not surprising, then, that both William and Wesley Culp took positions with carriage and coach maker Charles William Hoffman. Charles Hoffman was one of Gettysburg’s most prominent property owners and businessmen. In addition to his business, he owned ten properties in and around Gettysburg. In 1856, for reasons unclear to historians, but maybe more obvious to business people, Hoffman moved his business to Shepherdstown, Virginia (now West Virginia). (Hoffman owed huge debts to the Fahnestock Brothers, which he could not pay; they ultimately took control of several of his properties.)

Hoffman had three sons–Robert, Francis, and Wesley–working for him, and he offered, as well, to bring the Culps and Skellys in his employment. William Culp was eight years older than Wesley. In most family group sheets, we see four children born to Jesse and Margaret Culp. This is not accurate–in fact, Margaret Culp gave birth to eleven children, many of which did not live long enough to be given names or christened. Tragedy haunted the family, as did ill health. As the oldest, William likely felt obligated to stay, and in fact, his mother may have already become ill–while Hoffman, his sons, Ed Skelly, and Wesley Culp would leave for Shepherdstown in the spring of 1856, Margaret Culp would pass away in November of that same year.

Jesse would later die in 1861 just as war was breaking out. When war came, Wesley headed to the Stonewall Brigade, while Ed Skelly left the Hoffmans and came home. He and William Culp joined the 2nd Pennsylvania, a three-month regiment. William later reenlisted in the 87th Pennsylvania.

The boys crossed paths more than once. The brothers were both in action at Falling Waters, Virginia, At one point in 1862, Wesley was on furlough and was captured whereupon he was interred in a prisoner camp. William visited Wesley there, then wrote home to his sisters that Wesley was as well as could be expected and hoped to be exchanged soon. That exchange took place later in 1862, which set the brothers on pace for a more serious collision.

As the Gettysburg campaign opened in June 1863, Lee moved his army down the Shenandoah Valley and overran Winchester. At the Second Battle of Winchester, the 87th Pennsylvania was put to flight by the Stonewall Brigade. Daniel Skelly, Wesley’s childhood friend, was seriously wounded and would later die. William escaped, but allegedly, the severity of the battle and Wesley’s participation in it hardened William’s feelings toward Wesley for the rest of his life.

The rest from there is told in many places. What of William after his brother’s death and after the war?

Descended from a large and founding family of Gettysburg, William was married into others of the founding families. Before the war in 1855, he married Salome Sheads, the daughter of Peter Sheads and Salome Troxell. The Troxells descended from John Troxell, the first settler in Gettysburg after the town was laid out. Salome was mentioned with some frequency in niece Sallie Myers’s diary kept before, during, and after the war. William and Salome had four children of their own, and descendants still live in Pennsylvania today.

After the war, William appears to have tried to get back into his old business of tailoring. An 1874 ad for his new tailoring business shows up in the local papers of the day.

The business does not seem to have worked out. By 1880, William relocated his family to Chambersburg where he became, according to the local newspapers, one of its most prominent citizens. Unfortunately, William suffered from kidney conditions that, at the time, were lumped together as Bright’s Disease. The disease name is now considered historical and relates to any number of conditions that caused kidney problems, ranging from heart issues to diabetes. Whatever caused William’s, he was unable to recover. He died in 1881; his remains were returned to Gettysburg, and he was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Chambersburg noted his death with a lengthy obituary.

Salome never remarried and remained in Chambersburg where she passed in 1912 and was noted in a short obituary.