Only one more action stands between U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly and his effort to have the Butler Post Office on Main Street renamed for a local Civil War captain and avid public servant.

Kelly announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to approve renaming the post office after Captain Andrew Gomer Williams.

The House passed the bill on Dec. 12.

The bill now must be signed by President Joe Biden, which Kelly fully expects the president to do.

“I want to thank my colleagues in the U.S. Senate for supporting this bill,” Kelly said in a news release. “Andrew Gomer Williams lived a life of service to his community and country, and I am proud to cement his legacy in our nation’s history.”

Although Williams was born in Richmond, Va., in 1846, he fought for the Union during the Civil War.

He enlisted in the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Company E, 63rd Regiment, in September 1861 in Pittsburgh for a three-year stint.

Williams was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant one year later and was wounded at Fredericksburg and again during the Rapidan Campaign, when he was shot in the left temple with a musket ball.

He returned to service and was promoted in 1863 to the rank of captain at Gettysburg.

During his service, Williams bravely led his company in more than a dozen battles. He was wounded a total of four times during the war.

Williams was discharged in August 1864 and mustered out as one of only three officers in his unit who survived the bloody war between the North and South.

In his history, listed on the state Senate website, Williams is named as a tradesman, nailmaker, bookkeeper, attorney and notary public.

After the war, Williams returned home to Pittsburgh to study law while working in the city’s factories to support his family.

He moved to Butler in 1875 and opened a law firm after earning his law degree.

According to a 1923 Butler Eagle article, Williams and his wife, Emma, lived at the home they built at 440 N. McKean Street.

In 1891, Williams, a bespectacled gentleman with a full head of hair and impressive long beard, was elected as a Republican state representative. He served a two-year term in Harrisburg.

In 1900, the Republican was elected to serve in the state Senate. Williams served his constituents in Butler and Armstrong counties until 1904.

Williams spent 20 years as choir director at First Methodist Church in Butler, assisted veterans’ spouses in receiving their Civil War widow’s pension, was a Mason and volunteered on the Board of Directors for the Civil War Orphans Home in Butler.

Williams died in 1923 at the age of 72.

Chad Slater, a Gulf War veteran of the Navy, Air Force and Reserves, has been a Civil War re-enactor for 30 years.

He re-enacted in Williams’ regiment for 20 of those years.

When Slater read the book “Under the Red Patch,” which was written by a Civil War survivor who served in the 63rd, he learned that Williams was buried in North Cemetery in Butler.

Slater found Williams’ small headstone, which did not list his military or political service.

So Slater approached the Veterans of Foreign Wars post 249 in Butler about getting a new headstone for Williams due to his military and community service.

Because post 249 is responsible for marking veterans’ graves in North Cemetery, they paid for a brand new headstone for Williams, which was dedicated in 2020.

“They said it was their honor to take care of it,” Slater said of the VFW post’s funding of the headstone.

It was at the headstone dedication that Kelly told Slater he wished he could do more than just hand Williams’ great-granddaughter, Caroline Hunt, a folded flag.

Kelly then came up with the idea to rename the Butler Post Office after the Civil War Captain from Butler.

Asked why he feels Williams deserves to have his name on the post office, Slater replies that after being shot in the head at the Battle of the Wilderness outside Fredericksburg, Williams wandered into Spottsylvania days later to rejoin his regiment.

Slater also points to Williams’ service to the Butler community after his discharge from the Army.

“He’s a true American hero in my eyes,” Slater said.

He is thrilled that Kelly’s bill passed both chambers and is now headed to Biden’s desk.

“Me being a veteran, I couldn’t think of a more fitting way to honor this man, especially since he was in the regiment I reenacted,” Slater said. “This will shine a perpetual light on him.”

Mary Caroline Hunt of Pittsburgh is the great granddaughter of Williams, who was her mother’s grandfather.

Her mother frequently talked about Williams, Hunt said, and said the indentation on his head from the musketball that struck him remained visible all his life.

She said her mother described Williams as tall and distinguished, and very punctual.

“She said you could set your watch by the time he closed the door each day at his law office,” Hunt recalled.

Hunt’s mother spent many happy summers at her grandparents’ North McKean Street home.

Hunt is very proud that her great grandfather, whom her mother loved dearly, will be honored all these generations after his brave service in the Civil War.

“He was doing his duty and loving his country,” Hunt said of Williams’ military service. “It’s a really distinguished heritage.”

Kelly is thrilled the bill has been successful.

“This is a great honor for a man who selflessly served his community and his country,” he said.