Jim Williams (c. 1830 – March 6, 1871) was an African-American soldier and militia leader in the 1860s and 1870s in York County, South Carolina. He escaped slavery during the US Civil War and joined the Union Army. After the war, Williams led a black militia organization which sought to protect black rights in the area. In 1871, he was lynched and hung by members of the local Ku Klux Klan. As a result, a large group of local blacks immigrated to Liberia, West Africa. Early life Williams was born James Rainey in York County, South Carolina, on the plantation of Samuel Rainey about from Yorkville. He escaped from the Rainey plantation during the Civil War and joined the Union Army, where he eventually fought under General William Tecumseh Sherman in Georgia and the Carolinas. After the war, Rainey changed his surname to Williams and returned to York County and married a woman named Rose whom he fathered two kids with , and a previous son from his first Wife Olli Dunovant or Dunnavant who was possibly of Barbadian descent . There he fought for the protection of the civil and political rights of former slaves. He also organized a black militia unit - such units were called "Union Leagues". York County Klan In February 1871, Williams and local preacher Elias Hill met with local Ku Klux Klan leaders including James Rufus Bratton to negotiate the safety of blacks in the community. These negotiations were not successful, and around February 12, eight black men were killed by 500 to 700 whites in black gowns with masks, and was followed by nightly Klan raids for months. Bratton was the nephew of Williams' former owner, Samuel Rainey, and was a former surgeon in the Confederate Army. During this time, some local whites claimed Williams had threatened to kill local whites and that Williams' militia was stockpiling weapons. It was also claimed that Williams claimed to desire to rape white women if he could. Bratton also claimed that Williams and his militia were responsible for a rash of fires at white-owned properties. Lynching and death On March 6, 1871, James Rufus Bratton led a group of about seventy white men from their muster at the Briar Patch muster ground west of Yorkville to the Williams cabin. The mob first went to the home of Union League member Andy Timons, beating Timons to learn