James Harrison Williams (1836 - 1903) was an American legislator, newspaper correspondent, and lawyer. He wrote for a newspaper in Dubuque, Iowa while he was an Iowa state representative. Williams later entered the military as a

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

Personal life

Williams was the son of Virginia state legislator and slave owner Saml. C. Williams. He spent his early life in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

in Virginia, later moving to Dubuque, Iowa after graduating from the University of Virginia in 1857. Later that year, he became a part of the law firm that was owned by his brother in law John T. Lovell.

Career

Williams was elected as state representative as a Democrat. During this time, he was a correspondent for the newspaper ''

Dubuque Herald The ''Telegraph Herald'', locally referred to as the ''TH'', is a daily newspaper published in Dubuque, Iowa, for the population of Dubuque and surrounding areas in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The newspaper is the result of a 1901 merger of th ...

''. On January 1, 1860, Williams became part of the Iowa Legislature's Eighth General Assembly until January 12, 1862. In March 1861, his father called for Virginia to secede from the Union. In March 1862, Iowa Governor

Samuel J. Kirkwood Samuel Jordan Kirkwood (December 20, 1813 – September 1, 1894) was an American politician who twice served as governor of Iowa, twice as a U.S. Senator from Iowa, and as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Early life and career Samuel Jordan ...

started a legislative session for Iowa's war effort. When a bill came to the United States House of Representatives that prevented rendering aid to rebels, Williams said a proposal that went further than the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, stating that it should be made illegal for Iowa citizens to even countenance the escape of fugitive slaves which would make a person's moral stance illegal. There were many objections and the issue was tabled. He wrote editorials for the ''Dubuque Herald'' and criticized Abraham Lincoln for suspending habeas corpus. On July 12, 1862, a crowd threatened that they would destroy the offices of the ''Dubuque Herald''. Williams reportedly carried

horse pistols A pistoleer is a mounted soldier trained to use a pistol, or more generally anyone armed with such a weapon. It is derived from pistolier, a French word for an expert marksman. History The earliest kind of pistoleer was the mounted German Reite ...

so that he could defend the newspaper. He was elected to the Iowa Democratic National Convention, but he moved back to Virginia on the day it happened.

Later life

Williams entered the military as Confederate by recruiting troops for

R. Preston Chew Roger Preston Chew (April 9, 1843 – March 16, 1921) was a noted horse artillery commander in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. After the war, he was a prominent West Virginia businessman and railroad ex ...

's Horse Artillery in the 7th Virginia Cavalry, in which he later became a lieutenant. He was later a Judge Advocate General in the Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia under J.E.B. Stuart and then later under Wade Hampton III. After the Civil War ended, Williams moved to Woodstock, Virginia in 1893 and married Cora De Novelle Pritchartt. They had a daughter named Nannie W. Williams. He practiced law at the firm Williams and Brothers and served in the state legislature for Virginia. He died on December 7, 1903.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, James Harrison 1836 births 1903 deaths Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives Iowa lawyers American newspaper reporters and correspondents Confederate States Army soldiers 19th-century American legislators