When Captain James Williams was murdered in York County on March 7, 1871, the investigation that followed included federal agents and the US Supreme Court.Williams’ life as an enslaved person at Historic Brattonsville and later as a civil rights leader during Reconstruction, has been grafted into the larger story of slavery, emancipation and pursuit of freedom that’s told through the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.
Patrick Orciani was researching his family's history online when he learned that he was the great-great-great-grandson of Capt. James Williams, an African American militia leader and formerly enslaved man in York County, South Carolina.