Brigadier General William Ward Orme was born in Washington, D.C. in 1832. He moved to Bloomington, Illinois, in McLean County, prior to 1860 where he practiced law in the law firm of Swett & Orme. His partner was Leonard Swett. While practicing law in Illinois he caught the attention of Abraham Lincoln who called Orme the most promising lawyer in Illinois.[citation needed] He was a delegate to the Illinois State Constitutional Convention in 1860. He was a friend of Supreme Court Justice David Davis. When Abraham Lincoln appointed Davis to the Supreme Court, Davis wrote Orme about the news.