My Genealogy Hound

ELIHU S. WILLIAMS, lawyer, Troy. Elihu Stephen Williams was born Jan. 24, 1835, near New Carlisle, Clark Co., Ohio, and is the son of Elder Henry Williams and Elizabeth Williams, formerly Elizabeth Pettigrew. His parents were born in Virginia, where his mother remained until she was of age, his father being brought to Ohio in 1807, when a child, and the family settled near New Carlisle, where Elder H. Williams now lives. The subject of our sketch worked on a farm until 16 years of age, getting what education he could in the winter schools of the country district in which his parents resided. Not satisfied with that outlook, he demanded of his father that he should be sent regularly to school; his father told him if he wanted a better education than he was getting at home, to get it himself; the boy took him at his word, and with $1.50 in his pocket, started out in life for himself,; he worked among the farmers until he got money enough to pay his board for a few months, then, under the tuition of Mr. Arnott, of Troy, he fitted himself to pass examination for a teacher’s certificate, which he obtained, and taught school the following winter in Brandt, Miami Co.; by working in the summer and teaching in the winter, he struggled on until he obtained a fair education. In. 1858, he commenced reading law in the office of F. P. Cuppy, Esq., of Dayton, Ohio, and by working in the summer and teaching school he supported himself until February, 1861, at which time he was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Ohio. After closing a school in which he was then engaged, he went to Southern Illinois to select a location to follow his profession; while there, Fort Sumter was fired upon, and the nation had need of her young men; he took the first train north for the purpose of enlisting, but, before he reached home, Ohio’s quota was full; he then went to Mercer Co., Ohio, and hung out his shingle in Celina, but, in a few weeks, the second call for troops was made, whereupon he took the stump for volunteers, in Mercer Co. (then, as now, one of the strongholds of Democracy), and raising a company of fifty-six men, conducted them to Camp Todd, at Troy, Ohio, and went into the ranks as a private; here the 71st O. V. I. was organized, and on Oct. 5, 1861, he was elected First Lieutenant of Company A; he was commissioned Feb. 14, 1862, and promoted to Captain Feb. 10, 1863; he was in the battle of Shiloh, leaving a sick-bed to fight with the boys he enlisted; the Captain being slightly wounded in the morning, Mr. Williams had command of the company during the bloody battle of Sunday, holding his men in the front of the fight until night closed the contest; he was with the four companies of this regiment stationed at Ft. Donelson, and was in the fight at Donelson, where their four companies defeated Col. Woodward’s regiment, who had captured Col. Rodney Mason and the other six companies of this regiment at Clarksville, Tenn.; he was promoted to the command of Co. H, and was with the regiment in all its marches and skirmishes until September, 1863, when,, although the fifth Captain in the line of his command, he was given charge of three companies and a section of artillery, sent by the General commanding to take charge of the Post, at Carthage, Tenn., one hundred and fifty miles by river above Nashville; this post was established by Gen. Crook, with a division, and afterward held by Gen. Spears with a brigade; there was a large amount of Government stores accumulated at this point, for the use of the army, which could not be removed on account of the low stage of water in the Cumberland River; this post was thirty-six miles from any support, and the confederate commands of Col. Hughes and Col. Hamilton, estimated from 1,000 to 1,500 men were in striking distance of Carthage; Gen. Payne afterward told Capt. Williams that he did not expect the post to be held a week, but he could not spare any more troops, and, from what he had heard of him, he knew the rebels would not get the place without a hard fight; Capt. Williams not only held the post until the river raised and the stores were removed, but kept his troops vigilant and active, and, with the aid of captured horses, mounted part of his command, driving the guerrillas from the country; before Christmas he had captured or killed a rebel soldier for every man in his command, and, by the spring of 1864, had recruited a regiment of loyal Tennesseeans, which, under the command of Col. Garrett, did effective service for the Federal cause; Carthage was then made a recruiting station, and, by the petition of Union citizens, and the request of Andrew Johnson, then Military Governor of Tennessee, Capt. Williams was detailed for service in organizing Tennessee troops, and remained in Carthage until the close of the war, participating in every movement against the enemy in that part of Tennessee, and rendering effective service against the forces of the rebel Gen. Wheeler in his famous raid through Middle Tennessee. After the war closed, Capt. Williams remained in Smith Co., Tenn., and engaged in the practice of law, taking an active part in the reconstruction of Tennessee, being a member of the first convention held for that purpose in Nashville. In April, 1865, he was commissioned District Attorney for the Sixth Judicial District of Tennessee, and held that position until the summer of 1867, when he resigned, to accept the nomination as Republican candidate for the Legislature, to represent the district of Sumner, Smith and Macon Cos.; after an exciting and dangerous canvass, he was elected by a handsome majority, receiving the largest vote ever polled for the Republican party in those counties; he served for two years in what is known as the Radical Legislature of Tennessee, taking an active part in all the leading measures, retiring at the close of the term with the confidence of his party and respect of his opponents. He was married May 31, 1866, to Alice Gordon, daughter of Dr. Wiley B. and Virginia Gordon (the daughter of Gen. Russwum). In 1869, Capt. Williams refused to be a candidate for any political office, and remained on his farm until the year 1875, taking an active share, however, in the battles of the Republican party, all the more earnest because that party was here proscribed and persecuted, and hopelessly in the minority. In January, 1875, he entered into a partnership with his brother H. H. Williams, at Troy, Ohio, and moved his family to that place, where he now resides, busily engaged in the practice of his profession.