He attended public schools in Canton and graduated from a prominent Academy before working as a clerk for two years and then volunteering for the Union Army in 1861.

On March 12, 1867,[6] he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers "for gallant and meritorious services under General Sherman, resulting in the fall of Atlanta, Georgia.

"[2] During the winter of 1861-62, Willson participated in guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and campaigns in Virginia under generals Nathaniel Banks and John Pope.

In Atlanta, his regiment, the 60th New York Volunteers share the honor of unfurling the union flag on top of the city hall with the 111th Pennsylvania Infantry.

As assistant adjutant-general under the command of General John W. Geary he received the surrender of Savannah at the hands of its mayor R. D. Arnold, and was the first officer to enter the city at the head of his own regiment.

Once Willson received the surrender his regiment quickly began providing protection to the citizens of Savannah from the mobs that had begun breaking into houses and plundering.

His successful service and close association with many senior officers caused him to be appointed assistant quartermaster-general of the New York State Militia with the rank of colonel.

However, he did invest in the business enterprise and enlisted the participation of his younger brother Davis to join Rich and Tuller in the 1866 journey to Montana.

After reaching Omaha, Nebraska, in May 1866, Davis Willson, Rich and Tuller invested over $5000 in supplies, merchandise and transportation to embark on an overland journey to Bozeman, Montana.

[1] By the spring of 1867, Lester Willson had found a prospective wife, Emma D. Weeks, and had finished his important postwar work for the New York State Militia.

The Bozeman Trail was now closed because of Indian trouble so Lester traveled by Union Pacific passenger train from Chicago to Platte City, Missouri.

[1] He became an active partner with his brother Davis, Rich and Tuller in running the mercantile business which was now flourishing because of the construction of Fort Ellis just west of town.

In January 1869, Willson returned to Albany, New York, to marry Miss Emma D. Weeks on March 2, 1869, and bring her back to Bozeman.

[4] Returning via a Missouri River steamboat to Fort Benton, Montana, Lester, Emma and her piano were back in Bozeman by mid-May 1869.

It still stands today on Willson Avenue, a major residential thoroughfare intersecting Bozeman's West Main Street.