East Tennessee State University
Archives of Appalachia
Box 70295
Johnson City, Tennessee 37614
E-mail: archives@etsu.edu
Telephone: (423) 439-4338
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Title: |
The Andrew Jackson Williams Papers |
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Collection Number: |
Accession No. 311 |
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Physical Description: |
1 folder |
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Creator: |
Andrew Jackson Williams |
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Repository: |
Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University |
Provenance: The Andrew Jackson Williams Papers were donated to the Archives of Appalachia on November 27, 1987 by Judith H. Salo, account clerk in the Office of Telecommunications, East Tennessee State University.
Access: The papers are open for research.
Processing Information: Ed Speer completed processing, and the papers were opened for research in February 1988.
Andrew Jackson Williams was the son of John Williams (1808-1860) and his wife Nancy Harbison (1812-1889). Born two miles north of Benton, Tennessee, on July 29, 1846, he lived on a farm in Polk County until the winter of 1863-64. After joining a company of Confederate soldiers of the 62nd Tennessee Infantry who had been paroled after the surrender of Vicksburg (July 4, 1863), he participated in "scouts and raids" against Federal troops before the company separated and most of the soldiers left Tennessee. On his return from a brief trip to Georgia, he was twice captured before escaping and returning to Georgia. On April 1, 1864 at Tunnel Hill, Georgia, Williams enlisted in company A of the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry, CSA.
Beginning in May 1864, Williams participated in several battles as Federal forces advanced from the Chattanooga area toward Atlanta (Resaca, New Hope Church, Cassville, etc.). The day after a fight at Newman, Georgia (apparently late July 1864), he was sent to a hospital at Newman and then transferred to the 2nd Georgia Hospital at Augusta. After about two months confinement he was assigned police duty at Macon, Georgia. In Alabama when Sherman began his advance toward Savannah, his unit marched back into Georgia to intercept Federal forces at Griffin (probably November 1864). Fighting nearly every day on the way to Savannah, he remained in sight of Savannah until after Christmas.
Leaving Savannah behind, the Confederates crossed South Carolina and fought Union troops near Fayetteville and at Averasborough and Bentonville, North Carolina (March 1865). After the surrender of the Confederate forces commanded by Joseph E. Johnston (April 26, 1865), Williams was paroled at Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 3, 1865; and he returned to his home in Polk County, Tennessee that same month.
After the Civil War, Williams continued farming but also served as clerk of the Polk County Court and clerk and master of the chancery court. Andrew Jackson Williams died at his farm on August 24, 1925, and his widow Sarah C. (Rymer) Williams died in Benton, Tennessee in 1929.
The Andrew Jackson Williams Papers consist of a photocopy of Williams' sixty-page handwritten reminiscence of his military service as a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Written over a period of several months, beginning on June 23, 1908 and continuing at least through May 27, 1909, the reminiscence is a summary of Williams' service in the 62nd Tennessee Infantry and the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry from the winter of 1863-64 to his return home after being paroled in North Carolina in May 1865. The papers are stored in a single folder and are placed in Small Collections.
Important subjects covered in the collection include:
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal Narratives, Confederate
Williams, Andrew Jackson, 1846-1925
Folder 1
Reminiscence (related to Civil War Service 1861-1865), 1908-1909.
MTC 05/01 - modified GKY 02/28/02