Born in Kentucky in 1837, Omer Rose Weaver and his parents came to Little Rock the following year. The Weavers were one of the most socially prominent families in the city. His father, Samuel Weaver, built one of the largest homes in Little Rock and served as Arkansas Secretary of State. Omer graduated from the University of Nashville in 1856 at the age of nineteen, and by 1860 was working as his father’s secretary.

Omer became a lieutenant in the Pulaski Light Artillery, a militia unit organized in Little Rock in late 1860; the battery was originally known as the Totten Light Artillery, named for William Totten, a prominent physician in Little Rock, and his son Captain James Totten, the commander of the U. S. arsenal there. When Captain Totten announced he was staying with the U. S. Army and not joining the secessionist forces, the battery’s name was changed.

On August 10, 1861, at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, the Pulaski Battery engaged in a counter-battery duel with a Union battery commanded by Captain Totten, thus pitting teacher against student; Lieutenant Weaver was struck in the chest by a solid shot and mortally wounded. Lieutenant Weaver was 24 years old when he died. His body was removed from the battlefield, and Weaver now rests beside his father in Little Rock’s Mount Holly Cemetery.

Cabinet Card by Bank’s, Little Rock, Ark.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30810