# Jonathan Williams (engineer)

Jonathan Williams (May 20, 1750 – May 16, 1815) was an American military officer, engineer, and politician. He served as the first Superintendent of the United States Military Academy from 1801 to 1803 and from 1805 to 1812. He served as Chief of Engineers of the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 1802 to 1803 and from 1805 to 1812. He led the construction of fortifications in New York Harbor from 1807 to 1811, including Castle Williams, the first casemated battery in the United States. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania in 1815 but died before the 14th United States Congress assembled.

## Early life and education

Williams was born in Boston on May 20, 1750. He was a grandnephew of Benjamin Franklin. He graduated from Harvard in 1787 with an A.M. degree and worked at a bank in Boston.

## Career

He served as personal secretary to Benjamin Franklin in London and Paris from 1770 to 1783.
In 1785, he returned to the United States. He lived in Philadelphia and served as a judge of the Pennsylvania courts of common pleas. He joined the American Philosophical Society in 1787 and served as secretary.
President John Adams appointed Williams a major in the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers in February 1801. President Thomas Jefferson upon approval made him the Army's Inspector of Fortifications and assigned him to serve as the first superintendent of West Point in December 1801. The following year Jefferson also appointed him to concurrently command the separate Corps of Engineers established by the Military Peace Establishment Act and Congress and signed by Jefferson on March 16, 1802. He vacated (not resigned) his Superintendent position in 1803 but was reappointed in 1805.
He led the construction of fortifications of New York Harbor. From 1807 to 1811 Williams designed and completed construction of Castle Williams (the East Battery) and Castle Clinton (the West Battery). Castle Williams was the first casemated battery in the United States. His fortifications proved effective and deterred the British Navy during the War of 1812. He founded the U.S. Military Philosophical Society and gave it its motto, "Science in War is the Guarantee of Peace."
He resigned from the Army in July 1812 after Secretary of War, William Eustis, refused to give him command of Castle Williams. He served as brigadier general in the New York Militia and his position as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy was given to Colonel Joseph Gardner Swift. At that time, New York State placed him in charge of construction of fortifications for New York City. He eventually returned to Philadelphia and headed a group of volunteer engineers building fortifications around the city when he was elected to the Fourteenth United States Congress from that city in 1814.
He died in Philadelphia on May 16, 1815. He was originally buried in Pine Street Cemetery in Philadelphia and was re-interred to Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1862.

## Legacy

In 1802, the investor Richard Woodhull purchased 13 acres (53,000 m$^2$) in the Town of Bushwick and named the area Williamsburgh (later changed to Williamsburg), after Williams, who surveyed the land.
In 1810, Castle Williams was named in his honor.

## Publications

* Memoir on the Use of the Thermometer in Navigation; Presented to the American Philosophical Society, Held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge, Philadelphia: R. Aitken & Son, 1792