elay capture for a short period. The feelings of an officer,
when obliged to yield his sword, and suffer an imprisonment, he knows
not how long or cruel it may be, must be sufficiently agonizing to feel
that utter inactivity is forced upon him, at the very instant that his
country is most in need of the services he would cheerfully render. In
the last attack of the Hessians, Williams received a severe and
dangerous shot wound in the groin, though he entirely recovered from its
effects in due time. His career was suddenly checked, and he was doomed
to languish fifteen months, before he again saw the sun shine on his
freedom. The first half of his captivity, though painful enough to an
ardent patriot, was not total eclipse.

He was placed on Long Island on parole, and among many annoyances, there
occurred some incidents which cheered him in captivity. He formed the
acquaintance of Major Ackland, a British officer, and they became firm
friends. The elegant person, and finished manners of Williams, procured
him access to circles as a gentleman, which would have closed to him
solely as a prisoner; and under the guidance of Ackland, visiting the
opposite city of New York, he sometimes appeared in the fashionable
houses, which reversing the present order, were then measured on the
scale of style, by proximity to the battery.

It is related that on one occasion, after Williams had been dining with
Lady Ackland, his good friend the Major, and he, sallied forth for a
ball, and that although the company were much struck with the elegant
figures and demeanor of the two friends, and although the Briton made
all effort to introduce the captive, the gentlemen of the party could
not forget the enemy to welcome the stranger, and the ladies treated him
with extreme coldness. Ackland finding that all his efforts were vain,
took Williams by the arm and led him from the room, saying, "Come, this
company is too exclusive for us." This was not the only occasion on
which Major Ackland proved his friendship and sympathy for Americans.

His fate was a melancholy one, and such as he little deserved. After
the war of the Revolution, and when he had returned to his own country,
on the occasion of a dinner, the valor of American soldiers became the
subject of conversation. On their merit being denied, Ackland defended
them, and in the warmth of argument with a brother officer, to some
assertion, replied that he lied. The insult was of course unpard