William Lawrence Utley Sr. (July 10, 1814 – March 4, 1887)[1] was an American portrait artist, hotel keeper, politician, newspaper editor, and Wisconsin pioneer.

He was the 3rd and 7th adjutant general of Wisconsin, and served as a Union Army colonel through most of the American Civil War.

At age four, his father moved the family to Newbury Center, Ohio, about twenty miles east of Cleveland.

[2] He became associated with the newly organized Free Soil Party in 1848, along with a large portion of the population of Racine County.

[2] He was elected to a two-year term in the Wisconsin State Senate from the 7th District (Racine County) in 1860, where he served on the Committee for the Militia.

After the outbreak of the American Civil War, in 1861, Utley was again appointed Adjutant General of the Wisconsin Militia, this time by Governor Alexander Randall.

Over the course of six months, he had helped raise nearly 30,000 soldiers and received a complimentary letter from President Abraham Lincoln for his efforts.

On September 22, they marched out with orders to proceed to Cincinnati and join the Army of Kentucky in blunting the Confederate Heartland Offensive.

Adam was claimed by Judge George Robertson, who had been Chief Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

Utley wrote to former Governor Alexander Randall and President Lincoln requesting their assistance in resolving the matter.

[2][7] At the end of the war, an $800 judgement was rendered against Colonel Utley for having assisted the escape of Adam and other fugitive slaves.

They were one of four regiments under the command of Colonel John Coburn ordered to perform reconnaissance toward Columbia, Tennessee, when they encountered a Confederate force near Spring Hill.

[2] Colonel Utley led the regiment for another year in Tennessee, and then into Georgia on the Atlanta campaign under General William Tecumseh Sherman.