Jesse Milton Williams

(1831 - 1864)
Home State: Louisiana
Command Billet: Commanding Regiment
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 2nd Louisiana Infantry

Before the Antietam Campaign:
He was one of at least 9 children of Lightfoot Williams, formerly of Alabama, who died about 1848 in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, and was a substantial slaveholder. Jesse was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd Louisiana Infantry on 1 May 1861 at the unit's organization at New Orleans. He took command of the regiment after the battle of Malvern Hill (1 July) on the mortally wounding of Col Isaiah Norwood. He was promoted full Colonel 26 July 1862.

In the Antietam Campaign:
Colonel Williams was seriously wounded in the chest on the morning of 17 September, in combat near where General Starke was killed.

The remainder of the War:
After Chancellorsville, in May 1863, he was appointed to command of the Brigade, and led it at Gettysbug in July. He was killed at Spottsylvania in May 1864, when his unit was overrun.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Sources: Basic biographical information posted to the Louisiana Civil War Message Board by N. Wayne Cosby;
A slave inventory of the Williams family of 1848/56 - posted online at AfriGeneas by LaDonna Elam McKelvey; and
Sifakis, Stewart, The Compendium of the Confederate Armies, Louisiana, Facts on File, 1995 - extracted online on the Acadians in Gray website by Steven A. Cormier.

Birth Date: 1/11/1831
Death Date: 5/12/1864 Death Place: Spottsylvania CH, VA Burial Place: Stonewall Cemetery, Winchester, VA

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