
The Williams Family Journey to Freedom–
This is the story of John “Wesley” Williams and his wife Harriet, a Black American couple whose journey from slavery to freedom is pieced together from letters exchanged between members of the Reasin Beall Stibbs family living in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio and their son John H. Stibbs serving in the 12th Iowa Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War. The Williams family story emerges in fragments, scattered lines, and sporadic paragraphs, but these glimpses reveal a narrative of courage, strength, and resilience.
The original handwritten letters can be found in the Stibbs family papers collection at Tulane University’s Howard-Tilton Memorial Library Special Collections. To ensure accessibility and respect, the dated and offensive language used in the original letters has been edited to align with modern standards of respect and sensitivity. Some language has been omitted or reframed in quoted excerpts, and spelling and punctuation have been corrected. These adjustments allow the focus to remain on the humanity and determination of the Williams family as they navigated profound challenges in their pursuit of freedom.
The transition from slavery to freedom was fraught with obstacles. Newly liberated individuals like Wesley and Harriet Williams often faced uncertain futures. While escaping the authority of enslavers, they frequently found themselves under the control of Union soldiers and federal policies that were inconsistent, unfair, or overtly racist. The conduct of Northern soldiers ranged from heroic to abusive, and military policies oscillated between supportive to indifferent to racist. Yet, even in the face of systemic injustice, the Williams family persevered, learning to navigate life as free people in a transforming and often hostile America.
In the summer of 1863, after spending six to eight weeks recovering at his parents’ home in Wooster, Ohio, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg caused by mishandling his service revolver, Captain John H. Stibbs rejoined his regiment. By then, the unit was stationed farther south than he had ever been: at Camp Sherman on Bear Creek near the Black River, approximately 18 miles from Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the pivotal Siege of Vicksburg.
Camp Sherman must have been a vast encampment. Letters written by other soldiers, and records of wartime deaths, reveal the presence of several other regiments alongside the 12th Iowa at this location. These included the 127th Illinois, 40th Illinois, 12th Indiana, 97th Indiana, 25th Iowa, 103rd Illinois, 4th West Virginia, 1st Illinois Light Artillery, 13th U.S. Infantry, and 90th Illinois. Such gatherings of Union forces had profound social consequences. Where Union armies gathered, so too did enslaved people seeking freedom. For many, the arrival of Union soldiers signaled emancipation, hope, and liberation. Many had been abandoned by enslavers who fled the Union advance, while others risked their lives escaping their enslavers to reach Union lines. Courageous men, women, and children who had been enslaved took bold steps, leaving behind everything they knew and often any possessions they had, to liberate themselves. They embarked on their first step toward freedom, seeking refuge and safety in and around the Union Army camps.

The influx of freed and self-liberated individuals into Union encampments had profound effects on military life. Many soldiers began to rely on them to do tasks that were otherwise an unavoidable part of camp life. Captain Stibbs, like many of his comrades, took advantage of this newly available labor force to ease his burdens of camp living. Stibbs’ first hire was a man named “Old Uncle Nicholas” Johnson to care for his horses. In a letter, Stibbs described him as:
“…Old Uncle Nicholas, one of the finest and best old fellows you ever saw. He thinks I am the finest man in the Army and would do anything in the world to please me. I intend, if possible, that he shall live with me the balance of his life. The boys of the regiment say it has not yet been decided which I think most of: myself, my horse, or Old Nicholas.”
While Nicholas Johnson was paid for his services and recognized for his skills, Stibbs’ paternalistic tone reflects the influence of his own family’s hierarchical dynamics and the broader legacy of paternalism rooted in America. The nature of the relationship carried echoes of the systemic inequality of the era. This perspective, though likely well-meaning by Stibbs’ standards, highlights the complex and unequal dynamics of authority, race, and labor during that time.
It was through Nicholas that Stibbs first met John Wesley Williams, also known as West or Wes, who was working for Captain Edward M. Van Duzee of the 12th Iowa Infantry at Camp Sherman. Stibbs described Wes as a sprightly fellow about twenty-five years of age who can use more jaw-breaking words to explain something than any other person in America. A day or two after hiring Nicholas, Wesley Williams approached Stibbs with a request to hire his wife, Harriet. Wes believed Harriet, a young woman of about twenty years who had experience as an enslaved house servant in Vicksburg, would be an excellent cook for Stibbs. However, there was a problem: Harriet was still working under her enslaver, Mrs. Hill, who lived about four or five miles from Camp Sherman outside of Vicksburg.
Stibbs wrote to his mother, “You may think I was imposing on good nature to take her as I did,” and related the situation. He sent his Orderly Sergeant to Mrs. Hill’s house and had him explain to Harriet that that her husband, Wesley, was at Camp Sherman working under the supervision of recently promoted Lt. Col. Stibbs. At that time, all of Mrs. Hill’s enslaved workers had left her except Harriet, who had remained faithful. However, upon hearing that she could reunite and live with her husband at the camp, Harriet quickly packed her belongings and left Mrs. Hill’s household with the Sergeant to join Wesley. Mrs. Hill was furious at Harriet’s departure and expressed her frustration, calling it “mighty mean” of the Yankees to take away her last remaining worker.
After Harriet arrived at the camp, Stibbs noted that she and Wesley lived in a tent all to themselves and were as “happy and contented as anyone could wish to be.” He further observed that, “Harriet was one of the best cooks I ever saw, very industrious, and truly ladylike in her actions and manner.”
By December 1863, the 12th Iowa Infantry had relocated from Vicksburg to a railroad crossing called Post Chewalla, in Tennessee. Not long after this Stibbs anticipated that their regiment would soon receive marching orders, and he recognized that it would be unsafe for Harriet to accompany the troops. Concerned for her well-being, he arranged for her to travel from Tennessee to his parents’ home in Wooster, Ohio. Imagine the courage it must have taken for a Black woman to undertake such a long journey on her own for the first time and the immense relief she must have felt upon arriving safely at her destination. Harriet carried with her a letter from Stibbs addressed to his mother, which she personally delivered upon her arrival in Wooster on February 4, 1864.
“The bearer, Harriet Williams, is my cook that I have told you so much about. We find we cannot take her along with us on our present expedition. So she has consented to go home and live with you until I get home again. Her husband Wesley will go with us. I have promised that he shall go home sometime during the coming spring or summer. You must take good care of Harriet and provide for all her wants. After we get through with this war business and I get home and settled down, I will want her to live with me I think you will find her very valuable. It may require some time to get her posted up in your way of doing business, but she will soon learn all. She thinks I am the greatest man in America and says of course I must have a splendid Father and Mother.”
Stibbs’ father, Reasin Beall Stibbs, was busy working at his bank, the Exchange Bank of Stibbs, Hanna & Co. in Wooster, when Harriet arrived safely in Wooster. Writing back to his son, he noted:
“Harriet arrived this morning all O.K. I have not had the pleasure of an introduction yet. She hired a boy to accompany her up to the house. Your Ma has just been in [to the bank] to report. Your Ma says she likes her appearance very much.”
Not having received any letters from Wooster since leaving Tennessee, Lt. Col. Stibbs writes to his mother from the regiments new encampment at Black River Bridge, Mississippi:
“I suppose that Harriet is with you by now. I have no doubt you were very much surprised when she walked in and introduced herself. I hope you will be as pleased with her as I have been. I am afraid she will be homesick for a few days, or until she gets fairly acquainted with you. I gave her a glowing description of home and told her that you were undoubtedly the best woman on the face of the earth, so she started expecting to find everything as I had stated. How did she get through with her money? I have been afraid that some sharper might have taken advantage of her funds. She had over twenty dollars of her own money, and aside from that, I gave Maj. Van Duzee funds sufficient to pay her transportation home. Tell her that Wesley is getting along well. He has been to see all their friends and relations and found them in good health. Old Major Harris was killed by one of the Black men under his command shortly after we left Camp Hebrons. Uncle Nicholas is doing our cooking and gets along very well, though we all wish we had Harriet back again. When I have more time, I will write to her.”
The mention of Major Harris’s death reflects the tensions and frustrations among those newly freed from enslavement, underscoring the complexity of relationships between former enslaved people and those in positions of authority. This event also contrasts with Stibbs’ rosy portrayal of camp life, revealing a more nuanced and challenging reality.
Stibbs mother, Emeline (Sprague) Stibbs wrote her son that:
“Harriet was perfectly delighted when she got here for she thought her travels were all over. When she opened the door and asked if I was Mrs. Stibbs. I knew in a moment who she was for I had been pondering to myself what you would do with her when you left camp. That possible you might send her home. She had the letters in her hand. She said Col. Stibbs sent me home. She seems very handy and quite smart. The girls think she is great in the kitchen. Hettie has already commenced giving her reading lessons and says she learns fast, she thinks before long she will have her so she can read for herself on Sundays. I have a good girl in the kitchen that I wish for the present to keep, so I have Harriet help with the washing and ironing, wait on me, and do some of my part of the work. We will try and take good care of her, until you call for her Harriet says give my love to my husband.”

On February 15, 1864 Reasin Beall Stibbs writes to his son with some observations:
“Harriet is getting along finely learning to read. Hetty thinks she will have her reading from the Bible in two or three months. I tell your Ma that I am a little fearful that there is a youngster on the way. I am not very well posted about the form of African gals, when they are in that condition, but my opinion is that Harriet is in a fair way to bring forth a little baby. I hope I am mistaken. If I am correct of course we will take good care of the Mother + child. I have a grand deal of sport with your Ma about it. Your Mother told me this morning that she intended to have a talk with Harriet today. So that she can prepare for the reception of this New Comer if there should be one on the way.”
After finally receiving a large lot of letters from home, on February 20, 1864 Lt. Col Stibbs writes back:
“Am glad to hear that you are all so well pleased with Harriet and that she is so well suited with her new home. Tell her she must be sure and write to Wesley. Hettie will do the writing for her, and I am afraid Wesley will be sick if he dont get a letter soon. Poor fellow, he acts as though he had lost a part of himself. Every evening when the mail arrives he is on hand to find out whether there is any news from Harriet. He was wonderfully tickled when I read him a part of Ma’s letter this evening.”
Three days later Lt. Col. Stibbs writes to his father:
“I have had lots of fun this evening reading to Wesley and Uncle Nicolas that part of your letter in which you speak of the probabilities of an increase on the farm. I expected to get just such a letter but did not think it would come so soon. At the time I started Harriet north I never dreamed there was any baby in the wood pile, but since we came here Wesley told me all about it and wanted to know if she would be well taken care of there. I assured him she would be well provided for, and as I knew I would get a funny letter on the subject, I concluded to say nothing until you had made the discovery, and a good laugh we have had over it I assure you. I had much rather the case were otherwise, for I am afraid Harriet will prove a charge to Ma rather than a benefit as I intended. So we must make the best of it. You must take good care of the little family until I get home and we will then make some arrangements for them. I will take Wesley north with me, and send him directly there. You may find it convenient to keep him on the farm, if not he is young and strong and I have no doubt will be able to make a good living.”
Reasin Beall Stibbs writes to his son on March 15, 1864:
“If Harriet’s husband comes up I have thought of making a proposition to you regarding living quarters for them. Your Mother and I have talked the matter over and concluded that we would furnish the Lot if you would build the house. And in case you settled down in the West and wished to take them with you we would then sell the House and lot and refund you the money. What do you think of the plan? I have a man engaged for this Summer, but if Wesley comes I have about made up my mind to arrange matters so that he could do what I would want done next Winter. If you should send him I will see that he has employment, if not for myself, for others. We think if they had a little home near by with ground sufficient to raise what vegetables they would want for their own use, that it would be a benefit to them, and encourage them to feel that they would be able to take care of themselves. We will talk this matter all over when you come home, and adopt whatever plan we conclude will be best for all considered.”
As promised, Lt. Col. John Stibbs brought Wes Williams north to reunite with his pregnant wife, arriving in Wooster during the first week of April 1864. True to their word, Stibbs’ father donated Out-Lot 195, part of a newly surveyed and platted, R. B. Stibbs Addition to the Town of Wooster. John H. Stibbs financed and arranged the construction of a house on the lot, providing a home for John Wesley Williams and Harriet. On July 10, 1864 Reasin Beall Stibbs reports to his son that:
“We have at last got Wesleys house finished and they now occupy it. They are perfectly delighted. Harriet says she wishes some of her friends down in Dixie could see it. It is a very comfortable and neat affair. They send a great deal of love and thanks to you, for what you have done for them. Wesley proves to be quite a worker.” Just over a month later on Friday night, August 12, 1864 Harriet gave birth to a fine boy.
On August 15, 1864, Lt. Col. John Stibbs, writing from the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi, sent a letter to his family:
“Tell Wesley his brother [Ephriam Turner], is still with the Regt and is doing finely. I shall expect to hear from Wes before long. Want him to write and tell me how he gets along in his new house and all about his affairs generally.”
Following this request, John Wesley Williams and his wife, Harriet, had one of the Stibbs daughters transcribe a letter on August 22, 1864:
“Lt Col J H Stibbs, Dear Sir, I am very much obliged for your kindness to me. I am pleased with the house, and am getting along very well, better satisfied than when you were here. Mr. And Mrs. Stibbs are very kind to me and I would not wish to live with any better people than they are. I have learnt to saw wood the first stick of wood I ever sawed was on Mr Stibbs plantation I like to do it right- well. I helped Mr. Stibbs through harvest, bound oats and wheat, pitched hay, + helped to thresh. I got along better than I expected. I am going to plough tomorrow. Is my brother waiting on Dr Huff yet. Will you please see after him and whether he takes care of his money. Are any of the boys in the regiment that were there when I was, Give my best respects to Major Van Duzee and tell him that I am sorry that I disappointed him. Ask Uncle Nick how he gets along cooking if he likes it any better than when I was there. There is a fine little baby here, but nobody can find a name. John [another Stibbs employee] has gone and I am going to run the machine myself. I must close for Harriet wishes to write a few lines in the same letter. I am respectfully yours, J. W. Williams”
On another sheet of paper:
“Lt. Col. J. H. Stibbs, Dear Sir, I have been intending to write for a long while but kept putting it off until now as I have but very little to write. We are living now in our new house, and very much pleased with it besides a thousand times obliged to you. I am waiting anxiously for a name for our boy. He is the very image of Wesley. Give my respects to Major Van Duzee, and Mr. Lambert. Yours Truly Harriet Williams”
On February 21, 1865, Reasin Beall Stibbs wrote to his son, then stationed in Washington, D.C.:
“Wesley enlisted last week [27th Ohio United States Colored Troops, a private in Company I]. He will leave for Columbus on Wednesday next. He is very sorry that he cannot see you before he leaves. When he enlisted, we expected you home last week. He gets $525 for bounty. I wanted him to hold on till after the draft, and go as a substitute, but he said, that didn’t sound quite right to him. He would like a very fine rate, but he would rather go as a volunteer. I must say that I liked the very notion of things, and thanked God that he felt as he did on the subject. I wish every white man felt just as he does. He says he wants to go and fight for himself. I told him the other day that Jeff Davis was going to arm 200,000 Black men, and that he would have to fight his brethern. He replied ‘I will go for them if I get into a fight, some of them are as bad Secesh as white folks.’ He says that he wont hurt a Union Black if he can help it, but if they fight for the Rebs they must look out. I am a little sorry that West took a notion to go, as it leaves me without a hand to work on the farm. I could not say a word to prevent any one from doing what they thought was their duty to their Country, [even] if the farm lies untilled until the War closes. If it comes to the worst I can plough and hoe myself If West has his health and gets through safe, he ought to save about seven hundred dollars this year which will go far toward buying farm or little house.”
Wesley Williams appears to have fallen ill early in his military service, as suggested by later correspondence. On April 4, 1865, Reasin Beall Stibbs wrote to his son:
“No word from Wesley since I wrote you last. I conclude that he is all right again, or we would have heard from him. Harriet takes matters pretty cool. Little Frank is growing finely. He is as fat as a pig.”
Just five days later, on April 9, he updated:
“Harriet had a letter from Wesley yesterday. His health is improving. I think the poor fellow has been very sick. Little Frank is the brightest little boy I ever saw. He now sits alone on the floor. Whenever any of the family comes near him, he begins to crow and laugh. In fact, he is grinning about all the time that he is awake. I have a great desire to see the boy educated. I think he is smart.”
After the letter dated April 9, 1865, no further correspondence mentions Wesley or Harriet Williams for the remainder of the year. However, military records confirm that John Wesley Williams was discharged from service and returned to his wife and son in Wooster, Ohio.
On January 22, 1866, Stibbs brother, Joe Stibbs, transcribed a letter from Wesley to John H. Stibbs:
“Dear Sir I thought I would write you a few lines this evening. You must excuse me for not answering your letter sooner, but I have been so busy I could not find time to write I am getting along first rate and things go along smoothly. I am very glad that the winter is most over, so far we have had a pretty cold winter and still a pleasant one but have not had any sleighing. Well Col I have bought a lot from Mr. Stibbs [Lot 195 for $500 on November 28, 1865 was now legally his own]. I am very much pleased with it and if I live and nothing happens I will build a house on it in the Spring if I am able and nothing happens. I have been at Mr. Stibbs so long that it almost appears to me that it is home. I think if it was not for my family I would live with him as long as I was able to work his farm, he is quite a Gentleman. Dont think you could find a better man in Wayne Co than Mr. Stibbs to work for. I have some notion of leaving Mr. Stibbs but dont no how I can leave him. I hate to. If I had a listened to the many tales about, I would have left many a day ago. But I did not, such what was told me. Col Stibbs I dont know I to begin to thank you for the kindness done to me and the kindness from Mr. Stibbs. Col when you told me to come up here on furlough with you, you seen a good deal farther than I did. It makes me feel bad to think how the affairs is down south now. I hope Col Stibbs that it will all come right soon as you told me it would. If you please Col write to my brother [Ephriam Turner] to come home with the Regt. I have got a place already for him with a good man and not very much to do with Dr. Robison please dont forget it. They all are all well excepting Joe and he is getting along smartly. Harriet is a thousands times obliged to you for your kindness. Well I must close for I expect Joe is tired. Good evening Col and I am in hopes that my letter will be welcome. I will leave the balance of my story to tell you, when I see you, which I hope wont be very long. I wish the War was just started and you had a colored Regt to march through that heathen country at the head of, I think that I would be the first man to enlist and put my name down first to go with you. Well good evening Friend Col Stibbs, Yours Truly Wesley Williams”
That is the last of the accessible Stibbs family letters referencing the Williams family. It is possible that additional letters written after 1866 exist within the Stibbs family papers collection at Tulane University, but for now, the story continues through other sources, newspaper reports, property transactions, census records, and death certificates. These fragments of history provide glimpses into what happened next, as the lives of Wesley, Harriet, and their family unfolded beyond the pages of the letters.
In April 1867, a Wooster newspaper report shows John Wesley Williams sold his house and Lot No. 195 in Wooster to Stephen O. Reider for $1,250. Following the sale, Wesley purchased property in Columbiana County, Ohio, settling his family in the town of Salem. However, it seems Harriet either stayed behind in Wooster for a time or returned for support during the birth of their second child. Their daughter, Susie Williams, is recorded as being born in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, on January 28, 1868.
By the 1870 census, the Williams family was living in a house valued at $1,300 in Salem Borough, Perry Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. The household included John and Harriet Williams, their two children, and Johns brother, Ephraim Turner. Both John and Ephraim listed their occupation as “Laborer,” while Harriet’s was recorded as “Keeping House.” Between 1870 and 1880, the Williams family grew, welcoming five more children in addition to Frank and Susie. Tragically, several of these children passed away at a young age. Their eldest child, the always grinning Frank Williams, who was born in Wooster, died in August 1876 at the age of 12 from tuberculosis. By 1880, only three children were listed as living: Susie Williams (age 13), John Henry Williams (age 9), and Nellie H. Williams (age 1). The 1880 census provides further insight into the family’s challenges. Harriet Williams, while still managing the household, was described as sick and disabled due to “Consumption- Lungs,” now known as tuberculosis. Meanwhile, an 1880 article from the Ohio Patriot newspaper, published in Lisbon, Ohio, noted that John Wesley Williams was working as a cook for canal boatmen, demonstrating his determination to support his family despite their many hardships and heartbreaking losses. Significantly, the census also recorded that Susie Williams was “attending school,” marking her as part of the first generation in the Williams family to gain access to formal education.
John Wesley Williams passed away on June 13, 1890, and was laid to rest in Hope Cemetery in Columbiana County. His grave is marked with a government-issued military headstone in recognition of his service in the United States Colored Troops. Records regarding Harriet Williams death or burial remain elusive, but her absence from the 1890 census and her affliction with tuberculosis suggest that she likely passed away sometime between 1880 and 1890. No further information could be found about their only surviving son, John Henry Williams. However, limited details exist about their two surviving daughters, offering glimpses into the family’s legacy that continued in Youngstown, Ohio with Susie (Williams) Lucas-Lee whose descendants carried the surnames of: Lucas, Clark, Thomas, and Garnes.
The fate of “Uncle Nicholas” Johnson remains a mystery. Like so many others who served as undocumented workers behind Union lines during the Civil War, his contributions went unrecorded, leaving him to fade into history as an unacknowledged figure of immense dedication and sacrifice.
Wesley Williams’ brother, Ephriam Turner, continued serving alongside “Uncle Nicholas” Johnson as an undocumented quartermaster for the 12th Iowa Infantry until the end of the war but was never formally enlisted in the military. As a result, his contributions to the Union Army went unrecognized by the U.S. government. He received no veteran pension or benefits and later returned to Wooster, Ohio to live out his life. He passed away on December 3, 1911, and was laid to rest in Wooster Cemetery beneath a large granite gravestone. His wartime service has never received any official recognition from the U.S. government.
This glimpse into the journey of the Williams family, reflects the resilience of Black American families as they navigated freedom, citizenship, Reconstruction, and systemic inequities. Through the fragments of their lives preserved in records and the Stibbs family letters, we witness a family determined to rise above adversity and leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
-Written by S. Zimmerman, Wooster, Ohio.