William Wilson (1823-13 November 1874) was a US Army colonel who commanded the Union 6th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (nicknamed "Wilson's Zouaves") during the American Civil War.
Biography[]
William Wilson was born in England in 1823, and he later emigrated to the United States, becoming a prize fighter in New York City. Wilson became a member of Fernando Wood's Mozart Hall Democracy faction of the Democratic Tammany Hall political machine, and he was elected an alderman in 1856, also working as a real estate agent. On 25 May 1861, he was appointed Colonel of the 6th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment at the start of the American Civil War, and he served in Florida and Louisiana in 1862 and early 1863. He was mustered out of service on 25 June 1863, and he was breveted a Brigadier-General of Volunteers on 26 July 1866. He died in 1874 and was buried in Queens.