William J. Carter (post-war name: Jackson) was born around 1838 in Albemarle County, Virginia. He was the son of Addison and Lucy Jackson and the brother of Fielding Jackson. Carter was a slave of John Coles Carter, a prominent member of Virginia society who migrated to Missouri in 1852. By the eve of the war, John Coles Carter owned 126 slaves across his many properties. William Carter lived on Lick Farm in Lincoln County, and prior to the war, he married Jennie Scott, who was also one of John Coles Carter's slaves.
Carter enlisted as a private at the age of 26 on January 28, 1864, in Louisiana, Missouri, and mustered in on February 15 at the Benton Barracks in St. Louis. His service record describes him as 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with black hair, black eyes, and black complexion. He first served in Company B of the 67th USCT Infantry Regiment, but he transferred to Company I of the 65th USCT Infantry Regiment on August 15, 1865. Carter's first wife, Jennie Scott, died of disease sometime after he enlisted, either while he was on furlough or right after. Carter achieved the rank of corporal on April 12, 1865. With the 65th USCT and 67th USCT, Carter served in Louisiana throughout the war. He married his second wife Caroline Williams in Baton Rouge in the winter of 1865, but she died of cholera in June of 1866 in Baton Rouge. Carter mustered out on January 8, 1867, in Baton Rouge.
Carter married his third wife, Priscilla Davis Carter Stark, on January 10, 1867, in Baton Rogue. Together they had eight children: Lucy Jane, born December 19, 1868; Frances Ardella, born March 7, 1870; Willie Ann, born January 18, 1873; William Anderson, born April 20, 1875; Katie Adeline, born March 24, 1877; Lula May, born June 26, 1879; Ray Rasmas, born June 13, 1886; and Wenona, born April 29, 1888. All of Carter's children went by the family name Jackson. Carter and his family lived in Paynesville, Pike County, Missouri, for about ten or twelve years before moving to Clarksville in Pike County for the remainder of his life. He lived in a log cabin with his family and worked on several farms in Pike County. Carter suffered from rheumatism, neuralgia of the heart, and chronic hepatitis for several years after the war. Carter began filing a pension in 1886 but died before he could complete his application. He died on January 20, 1889, in Clarksville of "valvular disease of the heart superinduced by rheumatism," complications due to his service during the war. Following his death his widow Priscilla was able to successfully receive a pension of $8 a month starting in 1890 for herself plus an additional $2 a month for 5 of her minor children. A notary public in Pike County by the name of A. T. Jamison became the guardian for Carter's surviving minor children when Priscilla remarried in 1891, ending her pension.