William Harris born around 1828 in Albemarle County, Virginia. While he was enslaved at some point, his owner's identity is unknown. Harris moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1848, and from there to Pebble Township, where he lived as a free man. Harris married Mary Ann Ball in Pike County on January 2, 1855, and they had nine children together: Beatrice, born October 21, 1856; Thomas, born March 19, 1858; William, born March 19, 1859; Barreteen, born September 15, 1861; Elizabeth, born March 20, 1863; Charles, born November 24, 1866; John, born December 30, 1868; Priscilla, born June 26, 1871; and Annetta, born December 4, 1878. Prior to the war, he worked as a laborer.
Harris enlisted as a private in the Union army at the age of 36 on February 27, 1864, and he mustered into the army on March 8 in Columbus. His service record describes him as 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with black hair, grey eyes, and a mulatto complexion. He served in Company G of the 27th USCT Infantry Regiment. While traveling from Annapolis, Maryland, to Washington, D.C., Harris camped during a heavy rainstorm and slept an entire night with his right half of his body submerged in water. This caused blindness in his right eye for about a month until he received treatment. The vision in his right eye continued to suffer after the war. This eye injury caused Harris to serve mostly serve as a company cook at division headquarters. His regiment served throughout Virginia and North Carolina, taking part in the campaign from the Rapidan to the James River; the siege of Petersburg and Richmond; the Battle of the Crater; the bombardment, assault and capture of Fort Fisher; the Carolinas Campaign; the occupation of Raleigh; and the surrender of Confederate General Joseph Johnston at Bennett Place. Harris mustered out on September 21, 1865, in Smithville, North Carolina.
Following the war, Harris returned to Pike County, Ohio, where he found employment as a cooper. He moved to Paulding County in 1868. Following his service, he suffered from his eye injury, as well as deafness and misplacement of the left ankle. In 1885, he began receiving a pension of $2 a month, backdated to his discharge in 1865. His pension increased to $6 a month by 1889. He died on May 13, 1900, of unknown causes. Following his death, his widow Mary Ann received $8 a month from 1900 until her death sometime between September 4, 1903, and January 23, 1905.
