Jonathan Williams was born in Boston, Massachusetts back in 1751. He attended Harvard University, and was the grandnephew of someone you may have heard about Benjamin Franklin. From 1770-1785 he spent a lot of time in England and France assisting Franklin. Back in the United States he joined the American Philosophical Society in 1788.
He was appointed by President Jefferson to command the Corps of Engineers. From 1807 to 1811 he designed and completed two fortified gun emplacements on the East and West side of New York Harbor. Those were the first batteries constructed in the United States. In 1814, he was elected to the Fourteenth United States Congress but died from gout in Philadelphia before the Congress was assembled.
What you may not know about Jonathan is that he was the first superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile
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