John Stuart Williams

John Stuart Williams
United States Senator from Kentucky
In office March 4, 1879 – March 4, 1885
Preceded by	Thomas C. McCreery
Succeeded by	Joseph C.S. Blackburn
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives
In office 1851 1853
Personal details
Born	July 10, 1818 Mount Sterling, Kentucky
Died	July 17, 1898 (aged 80) Mount Sterling, Kentucky
Resting place	Winchester Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Miami University
Profession	Lawyer
Military service
Nickname(s)	"Cerro Gordo" Williams
Allegiance	United States of America Confederate States of America
Service/branch	United States Army Confederate States Army
Years of service	1846 – 1848 1861 – 1865
Rank	Colonel Brigadier General
Unit	6th U.S. Infantry, 4th Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers 5th Kentucky Infantry
Commands	Department of Southwestern Virginia
Battles/wars	Mexican-American War American Civil War

John Stuart Williams (July 10, 1818 – July 17, 1898) was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a postbellum Democratic U.S. Senator from Kentucky.

Early life and career

Born near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, Williams attended the common schools and graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1839. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1840, and commenced practice in Paris, Kentucky. He served in the Mexican-American War, first as a captain of an independent company attached to the 6th U.S. Infantry, and afterward as a colonel of the Fourth Regiment of the Kentucky Volunteers. He received the nickname "Cerro Gordo Williams" for his gallantry at that battle.

Williams was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1851 and 1853. He became known as a leading proponent of states rights. He was initially an anti-secessionist, but abhorred President Abraham Lincoln's policies and cast his lot with the Confederacy.

Civil War

With the outbreak of hostilities, Williams travelled to Prestonburg in early 1861 and was commissioned colonel of the 5th Kentucky Infantry. He served initially in the Eastern Theater, initially under Humphrey Marshall in southwestern Virginia. He participated in Marshall's ill-fated invasion of eastern Kentucky in 1862. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1863 and assigned command of the Department of Southwestern Virginia.

He organized a brigade of cavalry and helped resist Ambrose Burnside's invasion of eastern Tennessee in the autumn of 1863. He resigned that command and transferred to Georgia, assuming command of the Kentucky regiments in the cavalry of Joseph Wheeler. He received a formal resolution of thanks from the Second Confederate Congress in the fall of 1864 for his actions at the Battle of Saltville. He surrendered in 1865.

Postbellum

Williams returned home following the war and went on to engage in agricultural pursuits, with his residence in Winchester, Kentucky.

He again became a member of the State House in 1873 and 1875. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Kentucky in 1875, and was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1876. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1879 and served from March 4, 1879 to March 3, 1885. He failed in his reelection bid and returned to his agricultural pursuits.

Williams became involved in land development in Florida in the late 1880s. Along with a partner, Louisville businessman Walter N. Haldeman, the publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal; they founded the town of Naples, Florida.

He died in Mount Sterling in 1898 and was interred in Winchester Cemetery in Winchester.

References

• John Stuart Williams at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved February 13, 2008
• "John Stuart Williams". Find a Grave. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
• The Latin Library