View source for John Stuart Williams

{{short description|American politician}}
{{for|the English cricketer|John Williams (cricketer, born 1911)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name          = John Stuart Williams
|image         = Gen. John Stuart Williams CSA.jpg
|jr/sr1        = United States Senator
|state1        = [[Kentucky]]
|term_start1   = March 4, 1879
|term_end1     = March 3, 1885
|predecessor1  = [[Thomas C. McCreery]]
|successor1    = [[Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn|Joseph C.&nbsp;S. Blackburn]]
|office2       = Member of the<br />[[Kentucky House of Representatives]]
|term_start2   = August 4, 1873
|term_end2     = August 2, 1875
|predecessor2  = Joseph T. Tucker
|successor2    = George R. Snyder{{efn|As the representative from Clark County.}}
|constituency2 = [[Clark County, Kentucky|Clark]] and [[Montgomery County, Kentucky|Montgomery]] Counties
|term_start3   = August 4, 1851
|term_end3     = August 1, 1853
|predecessor3  = Samuel Hanson
|successor3    = [[Roger Hanson]]
|constituency3 = [[Clark County, Kentucky|Clark County]]
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1818|7|10}}
|birth_place   = [[Mount Sterling, Kentucky]], U.S.
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1898|7|17|1818|7|10}}
|death_place   = [[Mount Sterling, Kentucky]], U.S.
|resting_place = Winchester Cemetery, [[Winchester, Kentucky]]
|party         = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|alma_mater    = [[Miami University]]
|profession    = [[Lawyer]]
|nickname      = "Cerro Gordo" Williams
|allegiance    = [[United States]]<br />[[Confederate States of America]]
|branch        = [[United States Army]]<br />[[Confederate States Army]]
|serviceyears  = 1846–1848<br />1861–1865
|rank          = [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]]<br /> [[General officers in the Confederate States Army#Brigadier general|Brigadier General]] (CSA)
|unit          = [[6th U.S. Infantry]]<br />4th Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers<br />[[5th Kentucky Infantry Regiment (Confederate)|5th Kentucky Infantry]]
|commands      = [[Department of Southwestern Virginia]]
|battles       = [[Mexican–American War]]<br />[[American Civil War]]
|awards        =
}}
'''John Stuart Williams''' (July 10, 1818{{spaced ndash}}July 17, 1898) was an American politician and [[Confederate States Army]] general during the [[American Civil War]], who served as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Kentucky]] during the [[Reconstruction era]].

==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 (law)|bar]] in 1840, and commenced practice in [[Paris, Kentucky]]. He served in the [[Mexican–American War]], first as a [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] of an independent company attached to the [[6th U.S. Infantry]], and afterward as a [[Colonel (United States)|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-[[secession]]ist, but abhorred President [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s policies and cast his lot with the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]].

==Civil War==
With the outbreak of hostilities, Williams travelled to [[Prestonburg, Kentucky|Prestonburg]] in early 1861 and was commissioned [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] of the [[5th Kentucky Infantry Regiment (Confederate)|5th Kentucky Infantry]]. He served initially in the [[Eastern Theater of the American Civil War|Eastern Theater]], initially under [[Humphrey Marshall (general)|Humphrey Marshall]] in southwestern [[Virginia]]. He participated in Marshall's ill-fated invasion of eastern Kentucky in 1862; and fought for Marshall at the victory at the [[Battle of Princeton Court House]]. Marshall resigned soon thereafter and was sent to eastern Tennessee. Williams' brigade then spent a short period of time fighting for [[William W. Loring]] in the [[Kanawha Valley Campaign of 1862]], skirmishing at [[Fayetteville, West Virginia|Fayetteville]] and reaching [[Charleston, West Virginia|Charleston]]. Loring was then transferred to the Mississippi, replaced by [[John Echols]]. He was promoted to [[History of Confederate States Army Generals#Brigadier general|brigadier general]] in late 1862 and assigned temporary command of the Department of Southwestern Virginia, replacing Echols.  He was replaced by General [[Samuel Jones (Confederate Army officer)|Samuel Jones]].

He organized a [[brigade]] of [[cavalry]] and helped resist [[Ambrose Burnside]]'s invasion of [[East Tennessee|eastern Tennessee]] in the autumn of 1863, participating in the [[Battle of Blue Springs]]. He resigned that command and transferred to [[Georgia (United States state)|Georgia]], assuming command of the Kentucky regiments in the cavalry of [[Joseph Wheeler]] in June 1864. He received a formal resolution of thanks from the [[Second Confederate Congress]] in the fall of 1864 for his actions at the [[First Battle of Saltville|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, Kentucky|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.

==See also==
{{portal|American Civil War|Biography}}
* [[List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{CongBio|W000522| date=February 13, 2008}}
* Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher]], ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}.
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/chron/civilwarnotes/williams.html The Latin Library]
* Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War''. New York: Facts On File, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-8160-1055-4}}.
* [[Ezra J. Warner (historian)|Warner, Ezra J.]] ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. {{ISBN|978-0-8071-0823-9}}.

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|John Stuart Williams}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box
|state=Kentucky
|class=3
|before=[[Thomas C. McCreery]]
|after=[[Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn|Joseph C. S. Blackburn]]
|alongside=[[James B. Beck]]
|years=1879–1885}}
{{S-end}}

{{USSenKY}}
{{USCongRep-start|congresses= 46th–48th [[United States Congress]]es |state=[[Kentucky]]}}
{{USCongRep/KY/46}}
{{USCongRep/KY/47}}
{{USCongRep/KY/48}}
{{USCongRep-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, John Stuart}}
[[Category:1818 births]]
[[Category:1898 deaths]]
[[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]]
[[Category:Confederate States Army generals]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Kentucky]]
[[Category:Kentucky lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the Aztec Club of 1847]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Whig Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Miami University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Mount Sterling, Kentucky]]
[[Category:People of Kentucky in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:1876 United States presidential electors]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly]]