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- William Reading Montgomery (July 10, 1801 – May 31, 1871) was a career United States Army officer who served in the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War. He was a brigadier general in the Union Army from May 17, 1861 to April 4, 1864 during the American Civil War. Montgomery received a brevet appointment as major for gallant and meritorious conduct during his service as captain of the 8th United States Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, where he was wounded, and a brevet appointment as lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious service with the 8th U.S. Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Molino del Rey, where he also was wounded. Montgomery was promoted to the full, substantive rank of major in 1852 after which he served on recruiting and garrison duty. Montgomery was dismissed from the U.S. Army in 1855 due to unauthorized real estate transactions, the supposed appropriation of part of the military reserve land at Fort Riley, Kansas for the use of the Pawnee Association as a town when he "had an interest" in that association. Historian Ezra J. Warner states that Montgomery's dismissal from the service for this reason may have been procured by the pro-slavery faction in Kansas because of Montgomery's Free State views. Historian Stewart Sifakis supports Warner's view and states that the appropriated government land "was for a townsite that was apparently planned as a free-soil community." At the beginning of the American Civil War, Montgomery organized and was briefly colonel of the 1st Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. The 1st New Jersey Volunteer Regiment was "held in reserve" at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, according to Wilson and Fiske. Sifakis states that Montgomery's regiment was detailed to guard areas around Arlington Heights, Virginia and Fairfax Court House, Virginia. Cullum also supports this view by stating that Montgomery first served in the defenses of Washington, D.C. at the start of the war. Soon after the Battle of First Bull Run, Montgomery was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers to rank from May 17, 1861. Thereafter, he served in administrative positions or was awaiting orders. He was military governor of Alexandria, Virginia from September to December, 1861; in command of Annapolis, Maryland from January 1862 to March 17, 1862 and at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from April 4, 1862 to March 2, 1863; awaiting orders at Cairo, Illinois from March to October 1863; on a military commission at Memphis, Tennessee, October 16, 1863 to March 15, 1864; and on leave of absence from March 15 to April 4, 1864. Montgomery submitted his resignation from the Union Army, which according to Warner was presumably due to ill health, on April 4, 1864. After his resignation was accepted on April 4, 1864, Montgomery briefly dealt in wood moldings at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then retired to Bristol, Pennsylvania where he died on May 31, 1871. (en)
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