William Williams (soldier)

Frederick Hall, who used the alias William Williams was a runaway African American slave who enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 and died from a mortal wound while defending Fort McHenry from the British naval bombardment in 1814.^{[1][additional citation(s) needed]}

William Williams
Born	Frederick Hall c. 1793 Croom, Prince George's County, Maryland, U.S.
Died	March 19, 1815 (aged 21) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation(s)	slave, soldier
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Branch	U.S. Army 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment
Years of service	1814
Rank	private
Battles / wars	War of 1812 Battle of Baltimore (1814)  (DOW)

Early life

Bellefields Plantation in Croom, Prince George's County, Maryland where Frederick Hall aka William Williams spent most his life a slave, photograph from 1936

Frederick Hall was born on a plantation owned by Benjamin Oden in Prince George's County in 1793, he lived on the plantation until his escape in early 1814; despite the standing British offer of freedom and land to any escaped slave who joined the British army or navy, Williams enlisted in the United States Army in mid 1814. He was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry in Baltimore and received an enlistment bonus of $50, and wages of $8 per month.^[2]

Death

Williams traveled with his unit to Fort McHenry on September 10, 1814, two days before the British landed near Baltimore. During the bombardment on September 13th and 14th, Williams was posted with an infantry detachment of 600 men in the dry ditch surrounding the fort to repulse any British land assault. He and his fellow soldiers endured a 25-hour bombardment wherein over 1,500 explosive shells were fired at the fort and its gun crews.^[3] Williams was severely wounded, having his “leg blown off by a cannon ball”^[4]

Williams served with the 38th U.S. Infantry until October 25, 1814 when he presented to the 10th District General Military Hospital in Baltimore due to tuberculosis-related symptoms. Dr. Tobias Watkins, Regimental Surgeon of the 38th U.S. Infantry, treated him, but Williams died at the hospital while still a soldier on March 19, 1815. His former enslaver Benjamin Oden petitioned Congress in 1832 for the right to be issued Williams' potential service-related land bounty, but was rejected by the House Committee on Private Land Claims in March 1836.^[3]

William Williams was the alias used by Frederick Hall, a slave who ran away from his master during the War of 1812 to join the U.S. Army, from a runaway slave notice on May 16, 1814, in the Baltimore, Maryland newspaper, American Commercial and Daily Advertiser

See also

• Fort McHenry