The talented William Dorsey Pender is a prime example of the advantage held by the Confederacy in junior-level commanders during the opening months of the Civil War. Pender, a native North Carolinian, graduated in the top half of the West Point class of 1856.One of the first Southern-born officers to offer his services to the Confederacy. Pender first came to prominence during the Seven Days' Battles, when a number of junior Confederate officers took bold action to counter the battlefield errors