Battery Williams

Battery Williams (1862-1865) - A U.S. Civil War Battery established in 1862 in Corinth, Alcorn County, Mississippi. Named Battery Williams after Captain George A. Williams, (Cullum 1569), 1st U.S. Infantry, the battery commander. Abandoned in 1865. Also known as Fort Williams History Battery Williams was built in the fall of 1862 and mounted at least five 30-pounder Parrott rifles and an 8-inch siege gun. Some of the earthwork remains today, basically earthen walls thrown up against gabions. The battery's approaches were protected by an abatis fashioned of felled trees. The battery saw action in the Battle of Corinth on 3 & 4 Oct 1862 and was within sight of Battery Robinett during the attack on it. His official report covers the the attack on Battery Robinett as he observed it from a distance In his official report Capt. Williams described the attack on Battery Robinett: "The men of the First U. S. Infantry (at Battery Robinett), after having been driven from their guns (they manned the siege guns), restored to their muskets, and were firing from the inside of the embrasures at the enemy on the outside, a distance of about 10 feet intervening; but the rebels, having gained the top of the work, our men feel(fell) back into the angle of the fort, as they had been directed to do in such an emergency. Two shells were thrown from Battery Williams into Battery Robinatt, one bursting on top of it and the other near the right edge. In the mean while the Eleventh Missouri Volunteers (in reserve) changed front, and, aided by the Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio Volunteers, with the Twenty-seventh Ohio Volunteers on their right, gallantly stormed up to the right and left of the battery, driving the enemy before them. The battery could not open on the retreating enemy, for its commander, Lieutenant Robinett, was wounded, and 13 of the 26 men that manned it were either killed or wounded." Captain Williams survived the battle and the war but was wounded at the Expedition by Yazoo Pass to the Yazoo in March 1863. He continued on active duty until he retired as a Major in 1870 with a disability contracted in the Line of Duty. Current Status A brick-manufacturing company occupied the site in the 1970s. {"selectable":false,"height":"-500","width":"-500"} Location: Southwest corner Fulton Drive at Southern Railroad, Corinth, Alcorn County, Mississippi. Maps & Images Lat: 34.93269 Long: -88.52841 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 459' GPS Locations: 34.93269, -88.52841 Site 34.93472, -88.52778 GNIS See Also: Battery Robinett Battle of Corinth Civil War Defenses of Corinth Sources: Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 452. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 684657 Register Of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form - Battery Williams eHistory - War of the Rebellion: Serial 024 Page 0248 WEST TENN. AND NORTHERN MISS. Chapter XXIX. Links: North American Forts - Battery Williams Visited: 14 Sep 2020 Area