Dear Bruce Allardice et al,

I appreciate the hard work you and others have done in researching Colonel Sam Williams. I respectfully submit that you are mistaken in identifying him as a Tennessean. Frederick Johnston, author of Memorials of Old Virginia Clerks (pages 367-368), states that Samuel Croudson Williams formed the Muhlenberg Rifles, but he never actually appeared for duty. Earlier, in spring 1861, Samuel C. Williams was a Virginia state legislator who had "opposed the question of referring the action of the convention back to the people for ratification. He signed, along with Henry A. Wise and James Barbour, the minority report of the convention in favor of secession, before the proclamation of President Lincoln in April 1861, calling for 75,000 troops.

He [Samuel C. Williams] was twice elected a member of the legislature from Shenandoah, the terms embracing the years 1841, 1842, and 1843. He was an active partisan, trenchant in debate and subtle in the manipulations of party machinery … In after-years, the wisdom of his foresight was generally accorded.

Earnest and zealous in all that he undertook, he was ready at all times to sustain his convictions by personal sacrifices … he, at the head of his company, the Muhlenberg Rifles, was among the first to respond to the state call for troops. He reported for duty at Harper's Ferry, but on account of rapidly failing health, he was unable to withstand the severities of the service, and was compelled to return to his home, where, after a lingering illness, he died on May 12, 1862."