William Henry Stilwell[Note 1] (May 24, 1849 – May 8, 1928) was an American jurist who served as Associate Justice of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court from 1880 till 1882.
Following his removal from the bench, he remained in the territory where he was active in Republican politics and became an expert in mining law and water rights.
[3] His promotion to the bench came when President Hayes gave Stilwell a recess appointment as Associate Justice to the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court.
[3] Initially assigned to Prescott, at the time Chief Justice C. G. W. French was requesting reassignment away from the southern portion of the territory.
As part of the efforts to force Governor John C. Frémont to either resign or return to the territory so he could perform his duties of office, Stilwell was proposed as a possible replacement.
[5] In a May 1881 letter from Tombstone attorney Thomas Fitch to Senator John Franklin Miller admitted that no specific actions justified Stilwell's removal but that the judge was still too inexperienced to remain.
[13] Stilwell was a representative to the Republican territorial convention in 1888 and was elected to a two-year term as Cochise County attorney beginning in January 1889.
Posted in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California, the former judge served the paymaster department by developing a streamlined system for paying the troops.