Jonathan Williams (May 20, 1750May 16, 1815) was an American military officer, engineer, and politician. He served as the first

Superintendent of the United States Military Academy The superintendent of the United States Military Academy is the academy's commanding officer. This position is roughly equivalent to the chancellor (education), chancellor or University president, president of an American civilian university. T ...

from 1801 to 1803 and from 1805 to 1812. He served as

Chief of Engineers The Chief of Engineers is a principal United States Army staff officer at The Pentagon. The Chief advises the Army on engineering matters, and serves as the Army's topographer and proponent for real estate and other related engineering programs. ...

of the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

from 1802 to 1803 and from 1805 to 1812. He led the construction of fortifications in

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

from 1807 to 1811, including Castle Williams, the first

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...

d battery in the United States. He served as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

for Pennsylvania in 1815 but died before the

14th United States Congress The 14th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in the Old Brick Capitol in Washing ...

assembled.

Early life and education

Williams was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

on May 20, 1750. He was a grandnephew of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

. He graduated from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

in 1787 with an A.M. degree and worked at a bank in Boston.

Career

He served as personal secretary to Benjamin Franklin in London and Paris from 1770 to 1783. In 1785, he returned to the United States. He lived in Philadelphia and served as a judge of the

Pennsylvania courts of common pleas In Pennsylvania, the courts of common pleas are the trial courts of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (the state court system). The courts of common pleas are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in the state. The name derives f ...

. He joined the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1787 and served as secretary. President

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

appointed Williams a major in the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers in February 1801. President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

upon approval made him the Army's Inspector of Fortifications and assigned him to serve as the first superintendent of

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

in December 1801. The following year Jefferson also appointed him to concurrently command the separate Corps of Engineers established by the Military Peace Establishment Act and Congress and signed by Jefferson on March 16, 1802. He vacated (not resigned) his Superintendent position in 1803 but was reappointed in 1805. He led the construction of fortifications of New York Harbor. From 1807 to 1811 Williams designed and completed construction of Castle Williams (the East Battery) and Castle Clinton (the West Battery). Castle Williams was the first casemated battery in the United States. His fortifications proved effective and deterred the British Navy during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. He founded the U.S. Military Philosophical Society and gave it its motto, "Science in War is the Guarantee of Peace." He resigned from the Army in July 1812 after

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

, William Eustis, refused to give him command of Castle Williams. He served as brigadier general in the New York Militia and his position as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy was given to Colonel Joseph Gardner Swift. He eventually returned to Philadelphia and pursued scientific and literary efforts. He was elected to the

Fourteenth United States Congress The 14th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in the Old Brick Capitol in Washingt ...

from that city in 1814. He died in Philadelphia on May 16, 1815. He was originally buried in Pine Street Cemetery in Philadelphia and was re-interred to

Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery, also called Laurel Hill East to distinguish it from the affiliated West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, Bala Cynwyd, is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls, Philadelphia, East Falls neighborhood ...

in 1862.

Legacy

In 1802, the investor Richard Woodhull purchased in the Town of Bushwick and named the area Williamsburgh (later changed to Williamsburg), after Williams, who surveyed the land. In 1810, Castle Williams was named in his honor.

Publications

*
Memoir on the Use of the Thermometer in Navigation; Presented to the American Philosophical Society, Held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge
', Philadelphia: R. Aitken & Son, 1792

References

*''This article contains

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

text from'' *Tugdual de Langlais, L'armateur préféré de Beaumarchais Jean Peltier Dudoyer, de Nantes à l'Isle de France, Éd. Coiffard, 2015, 340 p. (). {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jonathan 1750 births 1815 deaths 18th-century American merchants 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives American bankers American people of English descent American science writers Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Harvard University alumni Judges of the Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas Members of the American Philosophical Society Politicians from Philadelphia Superintendents of the United States Military Academy United States Army colonels United States Army Corps of Engineers Chiefs of Engineers

Early life and education

Career

Legacy

Publications

See also

References