John Williams

Military activities (1812–1815)

Raiding Seminole Villages In December 1812, John Williams assembled 240 Tennessee mounted volunteers with 220 Georgia troops led by Rifleman Colonel Thomas Adams Smith to conduct a raid on the Seminoles who were reported to be allegedly planning attacks on Americans as allies of the British and Spanish. The combined American militia force marched on Payne's Town on February 8, 1813. The Americans engaged the Seminole warriors for several hours before driving them off. The Americans set their base of operations. The Americans conducted raids on nearby villages destroying homes and crops. The Americans killed 20 Seminole warriors, burned 386 houses, destroyed 2,000 bushels of corn, and destroyed 2,000 deerskins. The Americans took 300 horses, 400 head of cattle, and 9 Seminoles/Africans as prisoners. John Williams and Thomas Adams Smith with their combined raiding force then withdrew back to friendly lines on February 24, 1813. and rising politician Davy Crockett, he lost to Jackson by a margin of 35 votes to 25 at a contentious meeting of the state legislature on October 1, 1823. The area is now occupied by Maplehurst Park and the Church Street Methodist Church.

In 1826, while Williams was in Guatemala, his wife oversaw the construction of a new family home in East Knoxville, now known as the Colonel John Williams House. John Williams was the great-grandfather of Admiral Richmond P. Hobson,

Fort Williams, a supply depot built prior to the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, was named for Williams.