Description
John Williams: 79th U. S. C. T. Infantry, Company F, Private. Additional service: 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, Company F. Died September 5, 1912 at Topeka, Kansas.
✦ Invalid Pension: #117,893, Certificate #503,409.
(Researcher's note: John Williams enlisted at Leavenworth, Kansas on March 15, 1863, and was mustered as a Private into the 79th USCT Infantry, Company J, in Fort Scott, Kansas.
On October 29, 1866, Nancy Reese of Platte County, Missouri, signed claim for compensation #290 for enlisted slave John Williams and swore an oath of allegiance before Weston, Missouri, Court of Common Pleas Clerk William F. Yocum.
Reese claimed she had acquired title to John by “…that she owned and raised the said John Williams from his infancy, all his life, and owned him up to the time of his enlistment.” Numerous Platte County Reeses were enslavers.
As of July 1, 2026, Civil War U. S. C. T. Pension Record case files are not currently available on the Internet and would need to be ordered from the National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/pre-ww-1-records.)Date(s) of Creation
10/23/1866