Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-09-11
WAS A NOTED IOWAN.
Dead General One Time Liz we'd in
Keokuk County.
A BIT OF HISTORY SET III CHIT

General James A. Williamson, Win ose
Death Occurred In Jamestown, r. W..
Spent Early Life on a Farm, Nc al
the Old Town of Springfield.
Sigourney, Sept. 10. = Courier's
Special Service 1.-The telegraph
brought the news to Iowa that General
James A. Williamson died at James
town, Rhode Island, on Sunday even
ing, September 8. The biography that
followed the announcement in the Des
Moines papers contained some mac
curacies as to the date of his birth and
his place of birth He was born Feb
ruary s, 1929, not 1892, and at Column
bia, Adair county, Kentucky, not Co
lumbus. Kentucky. His father had
died prior to the removal Of his mother
to Iowa, who had married Thomas
Hendricks, relative of Hon. Thomas
A. Hendricks, the distinguished Iidi-,
ana statesman. James accompanied
his step father and his mother to
Iowa in 1S45 and they settled in Keo-
kuk county near the old town of
Springfield, on a farm where the future
general worked and aided the family
in getting the farm under cultivation.
He was educated in the common
schools and at Knox college, Illinois,
and then became student at law, and
was admitted to the Keokuk county
bar, but before he entered on the prac-
tice. taught school. in Ian.
caster, which at that time
was the county seat of Keokuk
county. The late Hon. E, s.. Sampson,
at one time. member Of congress from
this district, and S. B.. Evans of o.
tumwa, We're students at this school.
Subsequently he engaged in the prac-
tice of law and in the mercantile bust
ness but in 1854 removed to Des
Moines and at once became prominent
and influential, dealing largely in real
estate and was one Of the chief pro.
motors Of the removal of the capital
from Iowa City to Des Moines.
When the war for the union came
in 1861 he volunteered his services and
became first lieutenant and adjutant
of the Fourth Iowa Infantry with Col
onel G. M. Dodge afterwards Major
General Dodge, in command. Adult
an Williamson distinguished himself
at the battle of Pea Ridge and wah
soon promoted to lieutenant colonel
and then to full colonel AS command
er of his regimentfhe led it in the most
gallant manner in an attack upon the
enemy at Chickasaw Bayou, where the
regiment had 112 men killed and
wounded out Of total number of 3O5,
Colonel Williamson himself being Sc
verely wounded He was soon placed
in command of brigade, serving in
the seige of sVicksburg and in the var
ious. battles of the Atlanta campaign,
and marched with Sherman to the sea.
1t was not until after this campaign
I closed that he was commissioned as
| brigadier general and was mustered
out as such at the close of the war.
After the war closed General Will
Hanson returned to Des MONIES and
resumed the practice Of law, and in
| 1873 was made commissioner of the
| general land Office at Washington by
President Grant. Subsequently he be
came interested in western affairs and
was one of the organizers of the At
Ilantic and Pacific railway. He remov.
ed to New York, where he built up a
large and lucrative law practice. He
| was twice married, his first wife being
a Miss Gregory OF Van Buren, county,
who was sister of Mrs. J. A. T. Hull.
wife of Congress sman Hull from'the sew
enth Iowa district. (
General Williamson was one of the
most distinguished soldiers that Iowa
| furnished for the union.
He was man OF commanding pres.
ence, magnetic, genial and impressive
manner. That he was brave the in
scriptions on the banners Of the
! Fourth Iowa regiment attest First
at Chickasaw Bayou" The soldiers
under his command and all the officers
of the army who came in contact with
him were his friends; they admired his
gallantry on the field as we'll as his
courtesy. and high sense of honor as a
soldier and citizen.
General Williamson visited Ottumwa
a few years ago at the time of a re-
union of Crocker,s brigade and made
an address at the opera house. During
his visit he went to the. bedside OF
Judge 3. l.. Burton, an old timesfriend,
who soon after passed away. He was
the life long and intimate friend of
General Croker, who was the brother
of Mrs. Burton.
General Williamson was one of the
few surviving general officers from
Iowa. and ranked among the ablest of
| them all.
/ Batavia,