[1] At age 23, he engaged in a grocery business in New York, where he worked until the outbreak of the American Civil War.
In 1862, Williams volunteered for the Union Army, and mustered into service with Company I of the 110th New York Infantry Regiment.
[2] The 110th New York Infantry shipped out from Baltimore to Fort Monroe, Virginia, and then to New Orleans, Louisiana, for service in the Lower Seaboard Theater of the American Civil War.
[2] In 1865, he purchased a partially improved farmstead in the town of Hillsboro, in Vernon County, Wisconsin, and settled there in October of that year.
[4] Williams was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Masons.