The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1870-04-14
COMMANDER WILLIAMS OF THE
ONEIDA.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
ST. LOUIS, March 81, 1870.
A statement recently made by your Wash
ington correspondent relative to the late COM
mander Williams, leads me to ask the privi-
lege OF your columns to give 4 more detail
ed, and certainly more accurate, sketch of
that officer than has yet appeared in print.
Commander Edward Patterson Williams
was the second son of the late Hon. Hezekiah
Williams, Democratic member of Congress
from Maine, 1S45-lS49, and was born at Cas-
tine, in that State on February %, 1888 He
was appointed to the navy. September 9
1890; sloop Plymouth, 1851; steam sloop
Saranac, home squadron, 1S51-52; Naval
Academy, 1885 promoted to passed Midship-
man, June 10, 1853; sloop Dale, coast of Al
RIGA, 1654-55: promoted to Master, 1850
commissioned as Lieutenant September IL.
1855; sloop jamestown, coast Of Africa,
l956-57; receiving ship Boston, 1888 brig
Dolphin, Brazilian squadron and Paraguay
expedition, 1S5S-60 steam sloop Mississippi,
1861; commissioned rs Lieutenant command
July IL, 1862; steam gunboat Paul Jones,
South Atlantic blockading squadron, 1862
during which time he took part in the eXpe-
dition up st. Johns River to Lake Enter
prise also i'll the engagement with the bat
teries on Morris Island, Charleston Harbor;
cora, and led the storming party at the night
attack on Fort Sumter, where he was captnr-
ed and held prisoner for one year He was
! on ordnance duty at Boston in 1s64-66; naval
rendezvous same place in 1866; commission
ed Commander, July 25 1866 ordnance du-
ty, Navy Yard New York, 1867; ordancr
duty, at Navy Yard, Boston, from 1868 until
ordered to command Of the Oneida, Asiatic
Squadron, in 1869, In view of the manner
in which Commander Williams met his fate
it is a curious fact that while q midshpmau
on board the United States sloop Decatur III
1858, he assisted IN saving the officers and
crew Of the British ship Cleopatra, on the
point of laundering off our northeastern
coast In company with midshipman Lewis
A. Kimberly and crew of fresh men, he
volunteered to take the Cleopatra into Que
bee, but this being found impracticable, he
and his companions, on a dark and stormy
night and after great danger and exposure,
rescued all on board, thirty persons, and
brought them safely to the Decatur. Com
mander Williams, in addition to possessing
every quality which belongs to q thorough
sailor, was remarkable for being q strict dis
clpllnarlan and at the same time gaining the
respect and affection of the men,
An illustration of this trait is worthy of
mention. When United States ship Powha-
tan was ON duty blockadng Charleston har-
Dor, the discipline became somewhat relax
ed, and Lieutenant Commander Williams was
ordered on board her rs executive officer.
few weeks OF his firm but kindly hand was
sufficient to work the desired change, and
when he was transferred to another vessel
the crew of the Powhatan voluntarily man
ned the yards and gave him three hearty
cheers-"the finest compliment,n he was
n a.l- rnI-
be remembered that commander Williams,
after his capture ut Fort Sumter, was kept
i'll irons by the Confederate authorities for
nearly or quite a year, b. way of reprisal for
certain officers Of their navy which the Fed
eral Government declined to exchange. He
was finally granted Il leave on parole of
torty-ive days to come North, and arrange, if
possible, the release of himself and his
comrades. The Department hesitated to ac-
cede to the terms which he was authorized to
offer, and pending the negotiations some in
Judclous persons suggested to him that, NJ
he had only given his parole to 'rebels and
traitors, he was not bound to respect it, and
ought. in any event. not to return. His an
swer was precisely what might have been
expected from such man: ''lf | cannot
arrange for exchange by the time my parole
expires, | shall 90 back and deliver myself
up The familiar Sobriq7let of Barney
given him by his brother officers, is an cvi-
dence Of the peculiar attachment which he
always inspired among those who knew him
best. Brave rs a lion he was yet as tender
hearted rs q woman, and had moreover, u
large share of that bonh0Mtc which brings
popularity atloat us we'll as ashore A no
bier, more gallant spirit never trod Il deck.
Commander Williams was married in 1857
to Miss Jennie Ritchic of Castine Maine, who
died a few years since, leaving him three
sons. The oldest, u boy OF twelve, is resid-
ing at Dixon, Illinois; the second at Alton,
Illinois, and the youngest with his mothers
relatives at Searsport, Maine. Two brothers
and two sisters are residents of Dixon, and
another brother is living in Alton. Profound
AZ the grief of these kindred must be, they
can but derive consolation from the thought
that the set-sacrilicing heroism of his death
has shed an imperishable lustre upon our
navy and our nation d.