Otho Holland Williams (March 1, 1749 – July 15, 1794) was a Continental Army officer from Maryland in the American Revolutionary War.

He participated in many battles throughout the war in the New York, New Jersey and Southern theaters, eventually ending his career as a brigadier general.

Born in rural Prince George's County, Province of Maryland, Williams spent his childhood on Springfield Farm near present-day Williamsport.

In response to Congress's call for soldiers at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in the spring of 1775, Williams joined a Continental Army rifle unit as a commissioned officer.

Seeing his first significant combat action in late 1776 at the Battle of Fort Washington, Williams was captured by the British and imprisoned in New York.

From thereafter, Williams led his regiment through much of the southern campaign, most notably in the battles of Camden, Guilford Court House, and Eutaw Springs.

[1] For the first year of his life, he lived with his parents Joseph and Prudence Williams in Prince George's County until the family settled at the mouth of the Conecocheague near present-day Williamsport.

[2] Shortly before Joseph Williams death, he placed his thirteen-year-old son into the care of his brother-in-law Mr. Ross, who worked in the clerk's office in Frederick County.

During this time in New York, it was common for British officers to amuse themselves by insulting American prisoners with pointed questions such as "What Trade were you of before you entered the service?"

[8] Shortly after his release, he stated in a letter to the governor of Maryland that the regiment contained "...not above a hundred effective men... and that those are very indifferently clothed."

[9] After the unsuccessful attempt to capture Savannah, Georgia, under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln, the Southern Department of the Continental Army retreated to Charleston, South Carolina.

[13] During this engagement, Williams had been stationed to the rear of the army and was unable to contribute until the end [14] and General de Kalb was mortally wounded.

After the successful retreat across the Dan River, during which Williams led his men during many highly successful rear guard actions checking the enemy's advance and baffling every British attempt to bring the American army into a general engagement, General Nathanael Greene chose to offer battle to General Cornwallis's forces on March 15, 1781, on ground of his own choosing at Guilford Court House, inside the city limits of present-day Greensboro, North Carolina.

The Americans then began to pillage the camp which allowed time for the British to form a new line anchored by a stone house that the Continental Army was unable to move later in the day.

In the year following his marriage, Williams bought his father's house near the Potomac River and dedicated himself to improving the farm and laying out the town of Williamsport, Maryland, which was named in his honor.

[17][22] Williams wanted the capital of the United States to be located in Williamsport and wrote a letter to Washington to that effect on November 1, 1790, enclosing a map of the town.

[22][24] However, on December 21, 1792, Williams accepted the Maryland State Legislature's invitation for him to serve as an associate justice for Baltimore County.