William Ward

William Columbus Ward (born 1835 in Bibb County; died 1910 in Birmingham) was an attorney.

Ward was the son of David and Elizabeth Ward and grew up on the family's farm near Six Mile. was a Captain in the Confederate army. He moved to Birmingham in 1885. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1858 and was employed as a math teacher at Howard College in Marion until the start of the Civil War.

Ward was commissioned a corporal in the 4th Alabama Regiment which fought early battles in Virginia. He was wounded on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 and spent more than a month in a field hospital there before he recovered and returned to Alabama as part of an exchange of prisoners. He returned to the battlefield as Captain of Company A of the 62nd Alabama Regiment and was wounded again while defending Spanish Fort in Baldwin County. He was captured on April 9, 1865 and held at Ship Island until his parole on May 1.

After the war, Ward began a private study of law and was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1866. He practiced in Selma before moving to Birmingham in 1885 and taking a job as general counsel for the Elyton Land Company with an office in the newly-built Steiner Building at 2101 1st Avenue North. He and his wife, the former Alice Ann Bailey raised six children at their home at 1717 12th Avenue South.

Ward was a popular public speaker, and published several historical papers for the Alabama Historical Society.

References

• Desmond, Jerry (January 2013) "One Man’s Lunchbox" Jefferson County Historical Association newsletter