William J. Gray enlisted as 1st Corporal of Company E, 1st Georgia (Ramsey's) Infantry (Washington Rifles of Washington County) on March 18, 1861. He was discharged October 6, 1861, and elected 1st Lieutenant of Captain Horatio N. Hollifield's Battery, Georgia State Troops, on February 22, 1862. He was mustered out at Savannah in May 1862.
Lillian Henderson, "Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865," Vol. I, p. 256