'My fellow citizens, all of you who are for going with me on a retreat with arms in our hands, will hold up your hands; and all who are for staying and accepting the terms made for you by General Lincoln will stand as you are. Two officers, Captain McCall and Captain McLidle, and three or four privates, held up their hands; all others stood as they were. He then put the question again with the same result.
Samuel Hammond, who was present at this conference, rode back with Williamson and his staff to Whitehall. That evening, in company with Bennett Crofton, adjutant of one of the regiments, he left Whitehall, determined to make their retreat and not acquiesce in the decision just determined.
At this point Williamson disappears from history, and nothing, or little more is said of him, until he is captured by Colonel Hayne near Charlestown. The place of his retirement, after he left Whitehall, was never spoken of. The time and place of his death are unknown. He died an obscure, heart-broken, poor man. He was not a traitor. Let that word cease to be applied to his name. He never bore arms against his country. He never received a British commission. He never received any British gold. He lived the balance of his days in obscurity and died poor. He was not a
