Why Was NC Village of Wagram Named for Austrian Village? French Emperor Napoleon Inspired It

I bet few residents of my hometown of Wagram, NC, population 850, consider themselves global citizens, but they are. A television reporter in the nation of Austria contacted me to ask why a village in North Carolina where I grew up was named for a village so far away, 4,712 miles away to be exact, in Europe, in the country of Austria? Did some Austrians somehow settle in this hamlet of NC? Well, no.

“The story behind the name is bizarre,” observed Tobias Mayr of the Austrian television network ORF. He did an excellent report, for both television and print, which was reprinted in the Laurinburg (NC) Exchange. Click to read.

I think of Wagram as a town that time forgot, “and that the decades cannot improve,” like Lake Wobegon, but I didn’t quite know the full story of how it was named. I did additional research and posted it on Substack. That can be found here.

To sum up, the town was named by William Fitzhugh Williams (1851-1917), pictured in this article. Children nicknamed him “Puff Puff” because he was a railroad conductor. He was also apparently a voracious reader and a scholar of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who won a critical battle in Austria at Deutsch-Wagram. More.

Who was Williams and how did he come to name the town? According to a History of North Carolina:

The Scottish Chief, a publication in Red Spring, NC, in July, 1888 wrote:

 “Messrs. W.F. and J.G. Williams’ Mills, located in the western part of town…will be ready for sawing within two days. The Tardy-Vandergrift and Williams Railroad is being rapidly built from Red Springs to Millprong, ten or twelve miles northwest of Red Springs. The railroad is narrow gauge and equipped for the express purpose of hauling logs. These firms have bought several thousand acres of the best pine timber and the road taps one of the finest farming sections of the county.”

“In September of that year the new engine for the railroad arrived and was named “The Little Hector,” in compliment to our worthy townsman who has been active in promoting the building of this road. For upwards of 40 years this road did a thriving business and was known by all as the Little Hector Road. Later a branch line was run to the present town of Wagram, being the main factor in the establishment of that town.

“Mr. W.F. Williams (Cap’n Bill) was a great admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte, and named Wagram for one of his great battles. That winter the Fayetteville Observer says: “The construction of a lumber railroad and the erection of additional mills at Red Springs have awakened a new interest among the people of that section. Trade has increased, larger tacks of goods have been bought than in former years, and we think Red Springs is on a boom at last.”

“There were five sawmills in and around the town within the next few years.”

William F. Williams’ great-grandson was William Fitzhugh Williams Massengale, a prominent attorney in Chapel Hill, NC for many years. In 2011, at the centennial of the incorporation of the town of Wagram, he gave the Napoleon book to Mary Wayne Watson, a PhD English teacher and native of the town.