“Lt. Col. Williams led his men the Battle of Stono Ferry, Briar Creek, Siege of Savannah, Battle of Musgrove's Mill. For his victory at Musgrove Mill, he was awarded the rank of Brigadier General of South Carolina Militia by the Governor. At the Battle of Kings Mountain, James was mortally wounded and died the next day. … Before dying, Williams was carried by horse 12 miles before dying on the banks of the Broad River near the mouth of Buffalo Creek. He was initially buried at this location but in 1917, his remains were transferred to an vault at the Carnegie Library in Gaffney, SC. Today there is a large monument erected for him at Kings Mountain National Battlefield.”1755

Following copied from “King’s Mountain and It’s Heros” by Lyman Draper:3029

James Williams, son of Daniel and Ursula Williams--the father a native of Wales--was born near the old Fork Church, Hanover County, Virginia, in November, 1740. His education 'was very limited, and his parents dying, he early migrated to Granville County, North, Carolina, where his brother, Colonel John Williams was a distinguished jurist, as was also his cousin, Colonel Richard Henderson. Colonel Joseph Williams, of Surry County, in that Province, was also his cousin. Marrying a Miss Clarke, about 1762, he ten years later removed to Little River, in now Laurens County, South Carolina, where he engaged in the combined avocations of farmer, miller and merchant.

Taking a decided part against the mother country, he was chosen one of the representatives, in January, 1775, of the Broad river and Saluda district, to the South Carolina Congress; and soon after one of the local Committee, of Safety, and served as a Captain on the Snow campaign in suppressing the Tories. In 1776 he was made Lieutenant Colonel of Militia, and served on Williamson's expedition against the Cherokees. In 1778, he was defeated for State Senator by the strong Tory influence in his section; and that year led his regiment on the abortive Florida campaign. In 1779, he shared in the affairs at Brier Creek, Stono Ferry, and Savannah, receiving in the latter a spent ball on his forehead. The same year he served on an expedition against the Cherokees, and was engaged a while in guarding prisoners at Ninety Six. He served under Sumter, in 1780, as Commissary, on his expeditions against Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock; then at Musgrove's Mill, and closing his useful life at King's Mountain, where he received a mortal wound, dying the next day, in his fortieth year, leaving eight children, five sons and three daughters.

Fighting and dying, as he did, for his country, Colonel Williams well deserves to be judged in charity. He was every inch a patriot--and a man of strong religious feelings. He was rough, rash and fearless, As a soldier, he was much after the style of Cromwell, and Thomas J. Jackson in more recent times; and it may be added, that his ambition for glory, mingled doubtless with a true love of country, led him, perhaps unconsciously, to the use of means, not over scrupulous, in the accomplishment of his ends. While he differed and chafered with Sumter, Hill and their associates, yet when the tug of war came, he plunged fearlessly into the thickest of the fight, and freely poured out his blood, and yielded up his life, for his country. Let his unquestioned patriotism, like a mantle of charity, cover all his seeming short-comings. The historian, Bancroft, speaks of him as "a man 'of exalted character, of a career brief but glorious. An ungenerous enemy revenged themselves for his virtues by nearly extirpating his family; they could not take away his right to be remembered by his, country with honor and affection to the latest time."