Brigadier General Otho Holland Williams (March 1, 1749 – July 15, 1794) was a Continental Army officer from Maryland in the American Revolutionary War. He participated in many battles throughout the war in the New York, New Jersey and Southern theaters, eventually ending his career as a brigadier general.
Born in rural Prince George's County, Province of Maryland, Williams spent his childhood on Springfield Farm near present-day Williamsport. He was orphaned at age thirteen and was put in the care of his father's brother-in-law, Mr. Ross. Williams took an apprenticeship under Mr. Ross and studied his profession in the Clerk's office of Frederick, eventually taking charge of the office. At age eighteen, Williams moved to Baltimore and undertook a similar trade. Williams returned to Frederick in 1774 and entered into a commercial life.
In response to Congress's call for soldiers at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in the spring of 1775, Williams joined a Continental Army rifle unit as a commissioned officer. Soon thereafter, he and his unit marched off to the Siege of Boston. Seeing his first significant combat action in late 1776 at the Battle of Fort Washington, Williams was captured by the British and imprisoned in New York. He was released in early 1778 and returned to the Continental Army as colonel of the 6th Maryland Regiment, a position he had acquired during his captivity. From thereafter, Williams led his regiment through much of the southern campaign, most notably in the battles of Camden, Guilford Court House, and Eutaw Springs. Near the end of the War, Williams was sent by his commanding officer General Greene with documents to Congress and was promoted to brigadier general in 1782.
After the war, Williams later served as an associate justice for Baltimore County, and as the first commissioner of the Port of Baltimore. He returned to Springfield Farm in 1787, bought the house and the surrounding land, and began laying out the town of Williamsport. In 1792, Washington offered Williams to be brigadier general of the army, though he declined due to his failing health. Williams died two years later in 1794 while travelling to Sweet Springs, Virginia.
Early life Otho Holland Williams was born on March 1, 1749, the first son and third generation of his family born on the North American continent, his ancestors having emigrated from Wales.Scharf p. 330 His parents, Joseph and Prudence Williams, were tenant farmers and also ran a tavern near Seneca Creek in what in this man's lifetime would become Montgomery County, but which had just become Frederick County during an early division of then-vast Prince George's County.https://wmspthistory.org/williams-family His parents had probably married in St. Barnabas Church. His only brother, Elie (or Elisha) Williams, was born a year later and always associated with Frederick or Montgomery Counties, including serving in the American Revolutionary War. The family also included eight daughters, of whom at least four married. While Otho Holland Williams was a youth, his family moved upstream on the Potomac River with the family of his uncle Basil Lee Williams. They settled at the mouth of the Conecocheague near present-day Williamsport (in what was then vast Frederick County and became Washington County).
His paternal grandfather John Williams (1685-1728) had settled in Queen Anne Parish in Prince George's County after marrying Lucy Harding. His maternal grandfather, Otho Holland Jr. (1692-1731) had settled in Londontowne in Anne Arundel County after marrying Mary Margaret Selby of All Hallow's Parish. Shortly before Joseph Williams died, he placed his thirteen-year-old son into the care of his brother-in-law Mr. Ross, who worked in the Frederick County clerk's office. After studying the duties of the office, Williams took charge of the office himself before moving to Baltimore for similar employment at the age of eighteen.Mayer p. 529
In the spring of 1774, Williams returned to Frederick, the Frederick County seat and entered into commercial life.
Early war On June 14, 1775, not long after the Continental Congress called for soldiers, Williams joined Capt. Thomas Price's Independent Rifle Company of Maryland as first lieutenant.Maryland Historical Society (1927). The company then marched to the Siege of Boston. Soon after the company arrived in Boston, Williams was promoted. By order of the Continental Congress on June 27, 1776, the rifle company was integrated into the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment, with Hugh Stephenson as colonel, Moses Rawlings as lieutenant colonel and Williams as major.Maryland Historical Society (1972), p. 77
The regiment did not see much action until the Battle of Fort Washington, where Williams was wounded and taken prisoner by the British. Taken to New York, due to his rank he initially was permitted to go at large on his parole and mingle in polite society with the British officer corps in the fashionable Battery Heights neighborhood. During this time in New York, British officers commonly amused themselves by insulting American prisoners with pointed questions such as "What Trade were you of before you entered the service?" When a high ranking British officer asked this question of Williams he replied:
It is suggested that the officer offended by this retort informed William Phillips—then in command of the New York garrison—that Williams was sending military information to George Washington contrary to the terms of his parole. Williams was promptly arrested and sent to Provost prison in Manhattan. He and many others including Ethan Allen were confined to a filthy sixteen square foot (1.5 square meter) room without ventilation in the city's jail.Scharf p. 331 At least once Williams was made to ride toward the gallows with a rope around his next and seated on a coffin before being sent back to the prison. Nonetheless, his spirit remained unbroken, for when his brother managed to get $40 to him, Williams loaned $30 to fellow inmates to buy shirts and shoes. He remained captive for about fourteen months.Alan Pell Crawford, This Fierce People" The Untold Story of America's Revolutionary War in the South (New York: Alfred A Knopf 2024 ) pp. 186-187 In late September 1777, Allen, together with Williams, Virginia Navy Captain Edward Champion Travis, New Jersey diarist William Fell and Long Island surgeon's mate Elias Cornelius wrote a letter delivered to New York's city commandant, Major General Pigot complaining of the close confinement, inadequate rations, insufficient firewood, bad water, no medicine nor ink and paper nor family visits and confinement in the "loathsome dungeon" which received no written reply though the doors were all bolted for a day or two in retaliation.Edwin G. Burrows, Forgotten Patriots (New York: Basic Books 2008 ) pp. 95-97
Following General John Burgoyne's surrender after the Battles of Saratoga, Williams was exchanged for British prisoners on January 16, 1778. During his imprisonment, Williams had been promoted to colonel and given command of the 6th Maryland Regiment of the Maryland Line.Scharf p. 332 However, Williams would never fully recover from the malnourishment and maltreatment in that prison and that may have been the exposure to tuberculosis which ultimately killed him decades later. Meanwhile, shortly after his release, Williams took command of the underperforming regiment and soon wrote governor of Maryland that the regiment contained "...not above a hundred effective men... and that those are very indifferently clothed." He further stated: "I heartily desire to join the army as soon as possible but certainly it had better be reinforced by a regiment without a colonel than by a colonel without a regiment."Scharf p. 333 After joining Washington's army shortly before the Battle of Monmouth, Wiliams learned that the regiment was noted for loose discipline and inability to stand with others in the line during battle. Soon after he took effective command, the 6th Maryland Regiment became known as the equal, if not superior, to any in the whole army.Scharf p. 333
Southern campaign
After the unsuccessful attempt to capture Savannah, Georgia, under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln, the Southern Department of the Continental Army retreated to Charleston, South Carolina. General Sir Henry Clinton moved his forces, surrounded the city where Lincoln's army was located and cut off any chance of relief for the Continental Army.Fisher pp. 268–269 Prior to his surrender, Lincoln had been able to get messages to General Washington and Congress requesting aid. At the end of April 1780, Washington dispatched General Johann de Kalb with 1,400 Maryland and Delaware troops.Fisher p. 295 The Maryland Line made up a large portion of this force, with Williams serving in the post of Adjutant general to General De Kalb.
General de Kalb's forces took almost a month to descend the Chesapeake Bay and did not arrive in Petersburg, Virginia, until the middle of June, almost a month after Lincoln had surrendered his army. The Continental Congress appointed Horatio Gates to command the Southern Department. He assumed command on July 25, 1780, and immediately marched into South Carolina with the intent of engaging the British Army, now under the command of Charles Cornwallis. Williams served as Deputy Adjutant-General under Gates.McKinsey p. 89
Battle of Camden
After brief aggressive maneuvering which threatened the British position in the Carolinas, Cornwallis moved his forces to engage the American forces. The two armies met in the Battle of Camden on August 16, 1780, six miles (9.5 km) north of Camden, South Carolina. Due to several tactical errors on the part of General Gates, Cornwallis achieved a decisive victory. Deserted by their commander and facing opposition on all sides, the Continental Army was forced to retreat.Fisher p. 298 During this engagement, Williams had been stationed to the rear of the army and was unable to contribute until the end Tiffany p. 16 and General de Kalb was mortally wounded. Prior to his death three days later, de Kalb paid a glowing tribute to the Maryland Troop under his command.
Battle of Guilford Court House
After the successful retreat across the Dan River, during which Williams led his men during many highly successful rear guard actions checking the enemy's advance and baffling every British attempt to bring the American army into a general engagement, General Nathanael Greene chose to offer battle to General Cornwallis's forces on March 15, 1781, on ground of his own choosing at Guilford Court House, inside the city limits of present-day Greensboro, North Carolina.Fisher pp. 404–405
After the British forces had broken Greene's first line made up of North Carolina Militia and the second line made up of Virginia Militia they threatened the third line made up by the 1st Maryland Regiment, under the command of Colonel John Gunby, and the 2nd Maryland Regiment.Fisher pp. 406–408 The Brigade of Guards, under the command of a Colonel Stewart, broke through the 2nd Maryland Regiment, captured two field pieces and threatened the rear of the 1st Maryland forces whom were already engaged with sizable force under the command of a Colonel Webster.
The 1st Maryland Regiment charged and swept Webster's forces from the field.Fisher pp. 406–408 They then turned to face the oncoming guards unit. After a brief exchange of musket fire, in which 1st Maryland's commander's horse was shot from under him, the 1st Maryland Regiment charged the Guards unit who were quickly routed.