The Dickson - Williams Mansion was the Federal-style home of Catharine Dickson Williams and Dr. Alexander Williams in Greeneville. Catharine Williams, a noted hostess, welcomed guests including Presidents Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Andrew Johnson, as well as Davy Crockett, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, South Carolina Governor Wade Hampton and his daughters. After Dr. Williams died in 1852, Catharine kept the home prominent until her death in 1870. During Greeneville's Civil War years, the family reflected divided loyalties: her daughter Elizabeth married former U.S. congressman William Sneed; her son William Dickson Williams was a captain on Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan's staff; her son Joseph Alexander was a Union soldier; and her son Thomas Lanier was a Confederate soldier. Catharine Williams did not reveal which side she favored, and she entertained both Union and Confederate officers in town, including Union Gens. Ambrose Burnside and Alvan C. Gillem and Confederate Gens. James Longstreet and John Hunt Morgan. On September 4, 1864, a Federal raid on Greeneville targeted the house in an attempt to capture Morgan, who was killed a few hundred yards away. Union Gen. Alvan C. Gillem returned Morgan's body there, where Catharine and Lucy Williams and their slaves, including Minerva Clem, dressed the body in a clean shirt and uniform and placed it in a walnut coffin in the parlor. Lucy Williams later recalled her shock at seeing Morgan's remains there, and soon local women, both Unionists and Confederates, filled the house and mourned his death together.