Robert WILLIAMS

In 1883, 1885 and 1902, Robert Williams won the National Championship by winning the Double York Round. He also won the Double American Round six times at the American championships. Williams can probably claim to be the only American Olympian to have fought in the Civil War. He entered the Union Army in 1861 as a private, was afterwards elected captain of Company B of the 54th Ohio Volunteers and later was promoted to colonel of the regiment. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chickasaw and Bayou. In 1899 Williams was appointed the first deputy commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, a post he held until his death. Death came as the result of pneumonia, which had bothered Williams constantly after suffering several bad war wounds.