[3] In 1858, Willie moved to Marshall where he and Alex Pope formed a law partnership.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Willie was commissioned a major in the Seventh Texas Infantry of the Confederate Army on the staff of Colonel John Gregg.

The captured men were confined at Johnson's Island, Ohio[4] for nine months before the regiment was exchanged in time to take part in the Battle of Chickamauga in September, 1863.

After Reconstruction was complete and Texans resumed their rights under the U.S. Constitution, Texas received two additional congressional representatives through apportionment as a result of the 1870 census.

Willie did not seek reelection in 1874 and returned to Galveston where he was elected city attorney in 1875 and 1876.