Morris, William Walton 1801-1865
Military officer; born in Ballston Springs, N. Y., Aug. 31, 1801; graduated at West Point in 1820, and served against the Indians under Colonel Leavenworth in 1823; gained promotion to major for services in the Seminole War, and to colonel in 1861. He served under Taylor in the war against Mexico, and was military governor of both Tampico and Puebla. When the Civil War broke out he was in command at Fort McHenry, where he defied the threatening Confederates, and promptly [295] turned the guns of the fort menacingly on the city during the riots in Baltimore, April 19, 1861. He was brevetted brigadier-general in June, 1862, and major-general in December, 1865. He died in Baltimore, Md., Dec. 11, 1865. See Baltimore; McHenry, Fort.