General Seth Williams Of Augusta

from 2023 Greater Kennebec & Androscoggin River Valleys

Franklin Simmons Of Sabattus

by Charles Francis Twice-forgotten hero

He served with distinction in the Mexican War and the Civil War. As Adjutant of West Point he was held in the highest esteem, and was remembered with affection by all who attended the institution during his period of tenure there. His superiors remembered him for his leadership in the major campaigns of the Army of the Potomac and at Gettysburg. He was brevetted major-general for gallant and meritorious service in the field. He was one of the officers who served as a witness at the surrender of Robert E. Lee. Five weeks after that historic event he died. He was Seth Williams.

Seth Williams came from good stock. He was a member of one of Augusta’s most prominent families of the nineteenth century. An uncle and a first cousin were both United States Senators. He was connected to the Cony family. His father was a power in city and state politics and served as Augusta’s mayor and as Maine State Treasurer. Yet, as well known as the Williams family name once was, it is now virtually forgotten. This is especially so of Seth Williams, even though his name was twice memorialized in Maine.

In part because of his untimely death at the very end of the Civil War, Seth Williams’ name was chosen by Augusta area veterans for the name of their Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) post. The post’s formal name was Seth Williams GAR Post #13. Much later, in 1899, Maine’s most significant military installation was named for him. This was Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth. Fort Williams’ most important years were in World War II, when it served as the command post for the defense of Portland harbor, the headquarters of the North Atlantic Fleet.

Today, the GAR post named after Seth Williams is little more than a footnote in Augusta history. Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth was decommissioned in the early 1960s. Though it still exists as a park and memorial to those who served there, little mention is made of the man for whom it was named. Moreover, what little mention is made of him in official Fort Williams park brochures is a bit misleading and preemptive. In short, Seth Williams (cont. on page 22)

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(cont. from page 21) serves as an all-too-familiar, and therefore, sad commentary on how quickly we forget the past.

Seth Williams was born in Augusta in 1822. His parents were Daniel and Mary (Sawtelle) Williams. Williams was named for his grandfather, who came to Augusta in 1799 from Stoughton, Massachusetts. At the time, Augusta was still a part of Hallowell. The first Seth Williams was a Kennebec Valley pioneer. His sons, Reuel and Daniel, were self-made men who rose to prominence in the early years of Maine statehood. Reuel was a United States Senator, and is largely credited with establishing the first rail connection between Portland and Augusta. Reuel’s son Joseph went on to become a Maine governor as well as a United States Senator.

Seth Williams never married, although it was said on at least one occasion that he was “married to the military.” That sentiment would seem to serve as the guiding principle of Williams’ life. If so, there were other sides to his character.

Seth Williams was described as a man whose “personal magnetism, inextinguishable cheerfulness, genial nature, and almost feminine gentleness endeared him to everyone.” For all of this, however, Williams was “an able officer, a manly man, a firm patriot, and a brave soldier.” At the time of his passing his immediate superior, General George Meade, eulogized him as a man who “was especially endeared [to his officers and men] by a never-failing patience and kindness of heart that made no labor irksome that could promote their interest and welfare.” In short, Seth Williams was a soldier’s soldier.

Seth Williams entered West Point in 1838. This was the era when such notable figures as Robert E. Lee, John C. Fremont, and George Armstrong Custer also went there. Like them, Williams would go on to greater glory on the field of battle. Williams’ career as an officer began in the artillery. Following his West Point graduation, he was stationed at a number of minor posts, including Hancock Barracks in Houlton. Then, in 1845 he saw his first wartime duty in Mexico. In 1847 he was brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious action at the Battle of Cerro Gordo.

Following the Mexican War, Williams continued his former pattern of being assigned to minor military posts until he was named Adjutant at West Point, a position he held from 1850 to 1853. From West Point he moved on to staff administrative positions, first as a major and then as a lieutenant colonel.

During the War Between the States, Williams’ service alternated between

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the field and administration. He was in the field for much of the Virginia campaign and at Gettysburg, where he was brevetted colonel for gallant conduct. He went on to serve on Ulysses Grant’s staff as Inspector of the Army, which explains how he came to be one of the officers at Grant’s surrender. Williams was serving as Adjutant-General of the Military Division of the Atlantic when he died on March 23, 1866 in Boston. The cause of his death is given as congestion of the brain, a nineteenth-century term for such things as stroke and brain embolism.

Today Seth Williams lies beside his parents in Augusta’s Forest Grove Cemetery. With the decommissioning of Fort Williams, the simple marker in Augusta stands as his most permanent memorial.

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Mid-century shot of Hussey’s General Store in Windsor during the 1950s. Item # LB2016.13.308 from the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co. Collection and www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org