Career
A native of Ireland born in 1840, Williams immigrated to the United States. and joined the Navy from Pennsylvania. He served during the Civil War as a landsman on the United States Ship Lehigh. On November 16, 1863, Lehigh was in Charleston Harbor providing support for Union troops on shore when the ship ran aground on a sand bar and came under heavy fire from Fort Moultrie.
Several attempts were made to pass a hawser to another Union ironclad, the United States Ship Nahant, but each time the cable snapped due to friction and hostile fire.
Officers were about to give an "abandon ship" order when Williams and two other sailors, Landsman Frank South. Gile and Seaman Horatio Nelson Young, volunteered to make one more attempt. Despite intense Confederate artillery fire, the men rowed a small boat from Lehigh to Nahant, trailing a line attached to a hawser.
This operation successfully completed, Nahant was able to tow Lehigh off the sandbar to safety. After several previous attempts had been made, Williams succeeded in passing in a small boat from the Lehigh to the Nahant with a line bent on a hawser.
This courageous action while under severe enemy fire enabled the Lehigh to be freed from her helpless position.
