William Peter Mallett (1819-1889), son of Charles Peter Mallett, received his MD from the College of Charleston in 1841, practiced medicine in Fayetteville until 1855, and then moved to Chapel Hill in 1857. He lived at the corner of Franklin and Henderson Streets, present site of the downtown Chapel Hill post office. A local physician for thirty-two years, he ran the student infirmary "The Retreat" as well as maintaining a private practice. He also owned a "chemist's shop" and served as Chapel Hill's postmaster from 1885 to 1889 (Vickers 106). Three of his six children died before the war broke out. Dr. Mallett served in the Confederate army as a surgeon until 1864 (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography 4:206).