sentences:  It was named for William Dorsey Pender of Edgecombe County, a Confederate general mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg.It is in the southeastern section of the state and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and New Hanover, Brunswick, Columbus, Bladen, Sampson, Duplin, and Onslow Counties.The present land area is and the 1990 population was 28,855.