David Williams (October 21, 1754 – August 2, 1831) was a militiaman from the state of New York during the American Revolution. In 1780, he was one of three men to capture British Major John André, who was convicted and executed as a spy for conspiring with treasonous Continental general and commandant of West Point Benedict Arnold. Williams should not be confused with, and is not related to, David Williams (1759–1836) of Massachusetts, a participant in the Boston Tea Party. Biography Born in Tarrytown, New York, Williams had been a farmer before joining the Continental Army in 1775. Serving under Gen. Richard Montgomery, he took part in several campaigns. He was forced to leave active service in 1779 after his feet were badly frozen, leaving him partially disabled for life. Despite this condition, Williams continued to lend his support to the volunteer forces in his native area: overnight on September 22–23, 1780, he joined militiamen John Paulding and Isaac Van Wart as part of an armed patrol. The three men seized British officer Major John André at a site in Tarrytown, now called Patriot's Park. Williams searched André and discovered, hidden inside his boots, the documents of his secret communication with Continental officer Benedict Arnold. The militiamen, all yeomen farmers, refused Andre's bribe and took the officer to Continental Army headquarters. Arnold's plans to surrender West Point to the British were revealed and foiled, and Williams was among the witnesses when André was hanged as a spy. With George Washington's personal recommendation, the United States Congress awarded Williams, Paulding and Van Wart the first military decoration of the United States, the silver medal known as the Fidelity Medallion. Each of the three also received federal pensions of $200 a year. New York State awarded them valuable farms. The three militiamen were highly celebrated in their lifetimes: commemorations large and small abound in Westchester (see below), and can be found in many disparate parts of the early United States. Among other honors, each of the men had his name given to a county in the new state of Ohio (1803): Williams County is in the extreme northwest corner of the state. Still, Williams and the others did see their reputations impugned by some. André at his trial had insisted the men were mere brigands; sympathy for him remained in some more aristocratic American quarters (and grew to legend in England, where