Edward Porter Williams was a 19 year old student at Western Reserve College in 1862 when he joined Co. B of the 85th O.V.I. along with other students and faculty from the college. Williams served at Camp Chase, guarding confederate prisoners or war. During their service, 10 members of the 85th would die of disease and Williams, sick with typhoid fever, would have to be carried on a cot after being mustered out in Sept. 1862. He returned to his studies and earned both a bachelor’s degree and a masters from Western Reserve.

On the night of Nov. 18, 1861, Julia Ward Howe penned the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic after attending a review of troops in Washington D.C. and hearing the tune "John Brown's Body." The song would quickly become one of the foremost patriotic songs of the Civil War. Ward Howe Recalled. "Having thought out all the stanzas, I said to myself, 'I must get up and write these verses down, lest I fall asleep again and forget them.' So, with a sudden effort, I sprang out of bed...I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper."