USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. I > Part 23
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* There are branches of the family also in Warwickshire and Staffordshire, England, and County Waterford, Ireland. Of the last is Lieutenant Lucien Na- poleon Bonaparte Wyse, of the French Navy, son of Sir Thomas Wyse, K. C. B. ( Minister to Athens), and his wife Lætitia, daughter of Lneien Bonaparte, Prince of C'assino. Admiral Charles Wise, of the British Navy, represents the ancient branch. The arms of the Wise family are: Sa., three cherronds, ermine. The an- cient crest was a mermaid ppr .; but that now used, granted in 1400, is a demi-lion rampant (gu., guttic, ar.), holding in his paus a royal mare. Motto: Ande, Supere.
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and a man of consideration and influence in the colony. He died in 1695, leaving issue three sons and two daughters : John, William, Rich- ard, Barbara (married Robins), and Hannah (married Scarburgh). The eldest son, John Wise, married Matilda, daughter of Colonel Edmund Scarburgh, a member of the Council. He died in 1717, leaving issue three sons and three daughters: John, Thomas, Samuel, Mary Cave, Eliza, and Hannah, of whom John Wise, the eldest son, married Scar- burgh, daughter of Colonel Tully Robinson, of Welsh descent; was a Justice of the Peace, and died in 1767, leaving issue: John, Tully Rob- inson, Cassey, and Mary, of whom John Wise, the eldest son, Colonel and County Lieutenant of Accomac and Justice of the Peace (died 1770), married Margaret, daughter of Colonel George Douglas, law- yer-a native of Scotland, and of the family of ("Black Douglas") the Earl of Angus-and had issue : John, Tully, f Cassey, Elizabeth, and Mary, of whom Major John Wise, the eldest, educated a lawyer, Clerk of Accomac County, served two terms in Virginia Senate as Speaker (died 1812), married twice-first, Mary (died August 9, 1796), daugh- ter of Judge James Henry, and, secondly, Sarah Corbin (died 1813), daughter of Colonel John Cropper, # of " Bowman's Folly," a gallant officer of the Revolution, and President of the Virginia branch of the Order of Cincinnati. Had issue by the first marriage five children, and by the second five: Margaret Douglas Pettit, married her cousin Tully Robinson Wise; || James Henry; Henry Alexander; John Cropper ; Tully Robinson Scarburgh, of whom Henry Alexander Wise, the subject of this sketch, was born at Drummondtown, Accomac County, Decem- ber 3, 1806. Left an orphan at the age of seven years, he was edu- cated by his father's relatives, and, in 1822, was sent to Washington College, Pennsylvania, where he was distinguished as a debater, and whence he graduated in 1825. Attended the law school of Hon. Henry St. George Tucker, at Winchester, from the autumn of 1825 to that of 1828, when he returned home, and cast his first vote for Andrew Jack- son as President. He was married the same year, on the Sth of October,
tTully Wise married another daughter (Tabitha) of Col. Geo. Douglas, and from them are descended : Geo. D. Wise ; Capt. Henry A. Wise, U. S. Navy (au- thor, married a daughter of Edward Everett); Gen. Geo. D. Wise, U. S. Army ; and Hon. Tully R. Wise, 4th Auditor in the administration of President Tyler.
He was a grandson of Sir William Bowman, who built " Bowman's Folly."
# Of their issue is Tully Robinson, distinguished lawyer in California; George Douglas, member of Congress from the Richmond district; James Madison, mar- ried Ann Dent, daughter of the late James and Ann Dent (daughter of Hon. Alexander McRae, and granddaughter of William Black, of the Falls Plantation, James River, and his wife Anne Dent, of Maryland) Dunlop; Gen. Peyton, mar- ried Laura Mason, daughter of Gen. R. H. Chilton, C. S. Army, Adjutant-General of R. E. Lee; Franklin Morgan, married Ellen, daughter of Col. Christopher Q. Tompkins, U. S. Army ; and Lewis Warrington Wise.
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to Ann Eliza, daughter of Rev. Obadiah Jennings, D. D., of Washing- ton College, who was subsequently pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Wise moved to Nashville, soon after his marriage, to reside, and formed a law copartnership with Thomas Dun- can, Esq. In 1831 he returned to Accomac County. In 1832 he was a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore, Mary- land, where he advocated the nomination of Jackson as President, but refused to acquiesce in the nomination of Van Buren as Vice-President. During the Nullification excitement he published an address to the electors of York district, in which he declared himself opposed, on the one hand, to the measures adopted by South Carolina, and, on the other, to the Force bill and the President's proclamation maintaining the doctrines of the Virginia Resolutions of 1798, " that each State for itself is the judge of the infraction of the Constitution and of the mode and manner of redress." In 1833 he was nominated by the Jackson party of the Eastern Shore of Virginia for Congress, in opposition to the Nullification candidate, and was elected by 400 majority. His opponent, Richard Coke, of Williamsburg, challenged him after the election, and, in the duel resulting, the right arm of Mr. Coke was fractured. On the removal of the Government deposits from the Bank of the United States by President Jackson in 1833, Mr. Wise, together with sixteen other Democrats in the House of Representatives, went over to the opposition. He was re-elected to Congress in 1835, and again in 1837, as a supporter of the principles of Hugh Lawson White and John Tyler, who, in 1836, had been candidates for President and Vice-President, in opposition to the regular Democratic candidates -- Van Buren and Johnson. He was at this time opposed to the Presi- dent's pet bank scheme to the Sub-Treasury, to the reference of abolition petitions to any committee, and to a protective tariff'; and he was a zeal- ous advocate for the admission of Texas to the American Union. His wife dying in 1837, he married secondly, in November, 1840, Sarah, daughter of Hon. John Sergeant, of Philadelphia. In 1837 he acted as the second of Wm. J. Graves, of Kentucky, in a duel with Jonathan Cilley, of Maine-both members of Congress-in which the latter was killed: an occurrence that created a deep feeling in the country, and led to much denunciation of Mr. Wise, on whom for a time the chief opprobium of the affair rested. The nomination of John Tyler in 1840, by the Whigs, as a candidate for Vice-President, in conjunction with General Harrison as President, was largely due to the management of Mr. Wise; and on the accession of Mr. Tyler to the Presidency, after the death of General Harrison, his influence on the policy of the administration was very great, especially with reference to the Bank question and the annexation of Texas. In 1842 Mr. Tyler appointed him Minister to France, but the nomination was rejected by the Senate. He was subsequently appointed Minister to Brazil, and in that capacity resided at Rio Janeiro from
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May, 1844, till October, 1847. In the Presidential canvass of 1848 he supported the Democratic candidate, General Lewis Cass, and was chosen an Elector. He was a member of the Convention of 1850, which revised the Constitution of Virginia, and in 1852 was again chosen a Presidential Elector, and cast his vote for Franklin Pierce.
In December, 1854, he was nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for Governor, and immediately entered into a most animated canvass against the " Know-Nothing" party, which had just been or- ganized in Virginia. Mr. Wise conducted the contest untiringly, and was brilliantly successful. From January to May he traversed the State in all directions, travelling more than 3000 miles, and making fifty speeches, and such was the enthusiasm he created that persons would travel fifty miles to hear him. He was elected Governor by upwards of 10,000 majority. In 1850 his second wife died, and in November, 1853, he was married (a third time) to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. James Lyons, a sister of the late Hon. James Lyons, and a granddaugh- ter of Hon. Peter Lyons, a native of Ireland, the opponent of Patrick Henry in the famous " Parson's Cause," and a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia. During the administration of Governor Wise the Lecompton controversy of 1857-8 occurred, and though personally at- tached to President Buchanan, whose election he had advocated in 1856, he warmly joined with Senator Douglas in opposing that " schedule of legerdemain," as he termed the Lecompton Constitution. In 1859, Gov- ernor Wise published an elaborate historical and constitutional treatise on Territorial Government, and the admission of new States into the Union, in which he upheld the doctrine of Congressional protection of slavery in all the Territories.
Near the close of Governor Wise's term occurred the seizure of Har- per's Ferry by John Brown and his followers, and the execution of Brown at Charlestown, December 2, 1859, was one of the last acts of his admin- istration. Governor Wise was a member of the State Convention which met at Richmond, February 13, 1861, to consider the relations of Vir- ginia to the Federal Government, and was one of the Committee on Federal Relations, to whom the principal business of the Convention was referred. The Committee made three reports March 10th. The majority report affirmed the doctrine of States Rights, demanded a fair partition of the Territories and equal rights therein, expressed the hope of a restoration of the Union, recommended amendments to the Constitution, recognized the right of secession, and advised a conference of the border States. Mr. Wise presented another report, giving the list of demands, requiring both the General Government and the seceded States to abstain from hostilities in the hope of a peaceable adjustment of difficulties, and insisting that the President should only maintain a sufficient number of men in the forts, arsenals, etc., to preserve the
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public property therein. A third report advised the immediate secession of the State. Upon the passage of the Ordinance of Secession, he entered heartily into the war. He was appointed a Brigadier-General in the Confederate Army, June 5th, 1861, and ordered to Western Virginia. There he served in conjunction with General John B. Floyd until September, when he was ordered to report at Richmond. Thence he was sent to Roanoke Island, North Carolina, with instructions to defend it. At the time of the attack upon the island by General Burn- side and Commodore Goldsborough, February 7th, 1862, he was sick at Nag's Head, but the greater part of his brigade (known as Wise's Legion) took part in the action, and his son, Captain O. Jennings Wise, commanding the Richmond Light Infantry Blues, was killed. During the remainder of the winter, General Wise remained in Richmond, being in feeble health. Upon his restoration, he was placed with his brigade in 1863 in command of the district between the Mattaponi and James rivers. His brigade consisted of the 24th, 34th, and 46th Virginia Regiments of infantry, one battalion of artillery, and a few companies of cavalry, with head-quarters at Chaffins Farm. During the period of his command over this district there were some gallant attacks upon the enemy, including a highly successful reconnoissance behind Williamsburg, where the enemy were in force, and the final re- capture of that city from the Federals under the command of General Dix. He was relieved at Chaffins Farm by General Eppa Hunton, and sent with his brigade to Charleston, South Carolina, under the com. mand of General Beauregard. While in Carolina his command drove the enemy from John's Island, in the rear of Charleston, and served gallantly and efficiently in Florida in two severely contested battles.
From Carolina General Wise returned to Virginia, and was put in command of the defences of Petersburg. He participated in the battle of Drewry's Bluff, his brigade driving the enemy before them, and pur- suing them until withdrawn by his superior commander, General Whit- ing, who feared to uncover Petersburg. At this point too, on the 15th of June, his brigade alone kept at bay for a whole day the corps of General A. J. Smith, until Lee had crossed with his army to the south side of the James. From that time onward its history was that of General Lee's army at Petersburg, with its horrible monotony of rags, starvation and blood, ended at last by the surrender at Appomattox. After the war, General Wise made Richmond his residence, engaging in the practice of law, his son John S. Wise being associated with him. He published in 1860 several disquisitions on slavery, and in 1873 the " Seven Decades of Union," which is still a highly popular work. He served also as one of the State Commissioners on the Boundary Line between Virginia and Maryland, the final report on which was submitted to the General Assembly and published in 1874. General Wise died at
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Richmond, September 14th, 1876, and is interred in Hollywood Cemetery. He had issue by his first marriage :
i. Mary Elizabeth, married Dr. A. Y. P. Garnett, a highly successful physician of Washington, D. C., and lately a surgeon in the Confederate States Army.
ii. Obadiah Jennings, lawyer and editor of the Richmond Enquirer ; Captain Richmond Light Infantry Blues; died February 8th, 1862, from effects of wounds received at Roanoke Island.
iii. Henry Alexander, Clergyman Protestant Episcopal Church ; died August, 1868; married Harriet, daughter of Richard Barton Haxall, merchant miller of Richmond, and has issue: Barton. iv. Ann Jennings, married Frederick Plumer Hobson (now deccased), and has issue : John Cannon, Henry Wise.
Issue by the second marriage :
v. Richard Alsop, M. D., Professor of Chemistry, William and Mary College; married a daughter of William F. Peachy ; now Superin- tendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum at Williamsburg, Va.
vi. Margaret Ellen, married Wm. C. Mayo, of Richmond, son of Edward C., and grandson of Col. John Mayo, who built Mayo's bridge across James River, connecting the cities of Richmond and Manchester. vii. John Sergeant, born at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December 25th, 1845 ; was educated at the Virginia Military Institute and the Univer- sity of Virginia; lawyer; Lieutenant of Infantry of Confederate States Army ; Captain Richmond Light Infantry Blues; late United States District Attorney for the Eastern District of Vir- ginia, from May, 1882, to March, 1883, and now Congressman at large from Virginia ; married Eva Douglas, of Nashville. viii. Spencer Sergeant, died in infancy.
General Wise had no issue by his third marriage.
A county of Virginia was named in honor of Governor Wise. There is a portrait of him in the State Library at Richmond.
JOIIN LETCHER.
"Honest John Letcher," whose crest was his immaculate integrity, and whose talisman, duty, shamed in his honored and useful career mere heraldic boast. As nearly as man may of himself alone be the arbiter of his life's own destiny, was he the exemplification of the hackneyed term "self-made." His success is an enduring beacon to aspiring youth, and an assurance of what integrity, industry, and lofty purpose may accomplish in the race of life. His life-springs yield to no personal disparagement in comparison with any class, however favored, and in him they united, it is believed, the several races of justly termed Great Britain. His father, William Letcher, was a scion of a hardy Welsh-
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man early seated in the colony. His mother was of that staunch and sterling Scotch-Irish yeoman stock of the Valley of Virginia, which has supplied the armies and filled the councils of our nation and ex- tended its Western empire. She was a Houston, and a near relative of the unflinching hero of San Jacinto. John Letcher was born in Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia, March 29th, 1813. His
parents possessed scarce more of this world's goods than the "cotter's
life with the necessity of toil staring him in the face, but with a resist- content " as sung by their national poet. Young Letcher commenced
less craving of the intellect. His home was within the shadow of one of our most beneficent seats of learning-now the hallowed Washington
toil. But the lofty goal of education was ever before him, and with a Yet that which circumstance gave them could only be his by incessant and Lee University-and his earliest associations were with students.
strong heart and unflagging purpose he grappled with and overcame all obstacles. At the age of fifteen we find him working at the trade of a tailor-whence, it must not be forgotten, also issued a recent Executive of our nation-but devoting every leisure moment to study. Unceas- ing labor brought him limited means, and soon after his majority he entered Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, where he acquired the foundation of a classical education. He subse- quently attended Randolph Macon College. His penchant was, how- ever, for law, and upon leaving college in 1836, he commenced its study in the office of the late Hon. William Taylor. Here he remained for three years, and in 1839 was licensed to practice. Whilst diligent in acquiring professional lore, he had not been neglectful of other branches of learning, but had applied himself also to classic and general attainment as well, always keeping in view the aphorism, "Knowledge is power." He commenced his professional career in his native town, and was for years intimately associated with his late legal instructor, Mr.
Taylor, and with Governor James McDowell, whose encouragement, sympathy and friendship in his early years of struggle he ever gratefully cherished. The ability and fidelity of the young practitioner immedi- ately insured him success even amid competition with eminent talents,
among whom may be named Briscoe G. Baldwin, Thomas J. Michie,
John W. Brockenbrough, A. H. H. Stuart, and others whose names are household words in Virginia. Whilst pursuing his legal studies, he was a frequent contributor to the old Richmond Enquirer, the Fin- castle Democrat, and other newspapers the exponents of the Democratic party, with which he affiliated. In 1839 Mr. Letcher established at Lexington the Valley Star, and edited it with ability until 1840, in the advocacy of Democratic principles and the cause of education. At the bar he rose rapidly ; a retentive memory, clear mental powers of analy- sis, and a habit of observation enabling him to comprehensively grasp the relations of his profession to real life as well as the issues of the
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day. It is easily to be apprehended that he soon became prominent in the political area as a public debater and canvasser. In the contest of 1840 he was present in the most heated encounters, traversing the entire Valley of Virginia, meeting the strongest intellects of the period, and meriting and receiving the warmest recognition alike from friend or foe. It was during this tour, whilst speaking in New Market, Augusta County, that an attractive face in a coquettish blue bonnet, among his auditors, so held him captive that a few years later witnessed the consummation of a life union of unalloyed marital content with its fair possessor-Miss Susan Holt. Plain, practical and frank of speech on the stump, as in private life, John Letcher seldom failed to carry conviction to his auditors, and he always commanded the respect even of his political opponents. In 1844 he resumed editorial control of the Valley Star, and was conspicuous for his zeal in the advocacy of the interests of Virginia and of the South, with voice as well as with pen. Among the measures which he earnestly pressed was the annexation of Texas, of which Republic his cousin, General Samuel Houston, was the President. In 1848 Mr. Letcher served as Presidential elector on the Democratic ticket, and when the Convention of 1850 was called to remodel the State Constitution, he was returned to that body by a majority of over 1,200, although his district was strongly Whig. His labors in the Convention were alike satisfactory to his constituents of both political parties, and strengthened his reputation for integrity and ability. In 1851 he was elected, without opposition, to Congress, and continued to serve in that body for four successive terms. Here he made a National reputation-one than which no more enviable could public servant possess.
Though others may have been accorded the origination of great measures, his was a moral influence of which few politicians may boast. His political creed was "Strict construction, frugality in public expenditure, honesty in the public servant ; " and in very truth he was a jealous guardian of the Constitution-the citadel of Ameri- can liberty-and an uncompromising sentinel, challenging every infraction of the invested rights of the nation. By his rigid adherence to sterling principles and his unswerving fidelity to the interest of the people, he justly carned the proud sobriquet, " Honest John Letcher-the watch-dog of the Treasury," which distinction he righteously maintained throughout life. In 1859, after a spirited contest, John Letcher was elected Gov- ernor of Virginia over William L. Goggin, and took his seat January 1st, 1860, at one of the most trying periods in the history of the Commonwealth. Soon the fires of secession were lighted throughout the length and breadth of the Southern land, and popular clamor within and without her borders demanded that Virginia should be hurled into the vortex of disunion. Governor Letcher was inherently
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attached to the Union. Calmly, sorrowfully, amid the tempestuous waves of passion and under bitter vituperation, he surveyed the situation, looking into the future with almost prophetic ken, and coun- selled moderation, forbearance, and conciliation. He loved the Union sincerely and absorbingly. An incident attendant upon the deliberations of the Convention is characteristically noteworthy. Many hot-blooded politicians, followers of the school of Calhoun, were untiring in their efforts to influence the action of the Convention and control that of Governor Letcher, who by them was regarded with great suspicion. Some of the most intemperate and daring among them threatened to haul down the American flag, which, with that of Virginia, floated over the State Capitol. Against this the will of Letcher interposed, and not until Virginia had severed her bonds with the Union by solemn act of Convention would he suffer the Stars and Stripes to be removed. Then, the issue having come between honor and dishonor; after Virginia had sued for peace and compromise almost on bended knee; when she had thrown herself into the breach and had been insultingly rebuffed- then it was that the lamb became a lion's whelp, and John Letcher raised the rallying cry that echoed and re-echoed throughout the Sunny Sonth. Then it was that his executive ability was pre-eminent and became all- sustaining to the people. During nearly three years of the conflict, Gov- ernor Letcher controlled the war policy of the State, and was a tower of strength to the Southern Confederacy. His every energy, physical and mental, was devoted to the cause. Never despairing, ever fruitful of resource, quick to determine and equally quick to act. When he spoke, the highest in authority gave respectful ear. His foresight an- ticipated many an issue that might otherwise have proved disastrous. It was his habit to meet difficulty on the threshold and overcome it there and then, and this served him and the Confederacy in many a critical moment. During the bread riot in Richmond, when the fate of the city trembled in the balance and the Confederate authorities were powerless, it was his decision that averted the impending catastrophe. The threats and entreaties of President Davis and the Secretary of War were whistled down the wind by the overwrought mob, but when the War Governor came to the front, watch in hand, and surrounded by the faithful Publie Guard * of the State, commanded by the late Captain Edward S. Gay, and gave the rioters three minutes in which to disperse, they knew that his resolve was fixed and brooked no disobedience. It was
* This company, organized in 1801, had its quarters in the old State Armory near the Tredegar Iron Works, and a portion of which, spared by the conflagra- tion of April 3d, 1865, is still standing, a memorial of the past. The Guard, which patrolled the public buildings and grounds at Richmond, used to be joeosely termed the " Standing Army of Virginia," as it was for years the only military body upon State establishment in the Union. It was disbanded by Federal authority in 1867.
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Governor Letcher who hurried troops to the front as soon as the State seceded, and saw that they were drilled by the State Cadets of the Vir- ginia Military Institute; and it was he who virtually placed Lee in command of the Virginia troops, and who first recognized the military genius of Jackson, and whose influence later retained in the service that chieftain when, upon a conflict of authority between himself and General Loring, and his complaints were disregarded by the Confeder- ate War Department, he tendered his resignation through his personal friend, Governor Letcher. But the record of Governor Letcher is historical, and naught of detail may now add to its lustre. He knew no policy inconsistent with his duty to his State, and while his relations to the Confederacy challenge a breath of suspicion, his motto was Virginia, first, last, and always. He passed from the gubernatorial chair with the affection and enduring gratitude of the entire people of his beloved State. Immediately after the war he was arrested by the United States authorities, without specific charge, and for some months was confined in the Old Capitol prison at Washington. During the war his home was burned by the vandal raider, General Hunter, at the time of the destruction of the Virginia Military Institute, in June, 1864, and upon Governor Letcher's release from prison he returned to Lexington and applied himself to building up his shattered fortunes in the practice of his profession. He remained in private life until 1875, when he was elected to the House of Delegates, and there originated the well-known "dog law " for the protection of sheep husbandry. In 1876, whilst in attend- ance upon the Assembly, he was suddenly and without premonition, after a busy day of legislative service, stricken with paralysis. Whilst thus prostrate the State Senate, to show their appreciation of his public services, passed a joint resolution providing for the payment of all'ex- penses incident upon his illness, but with lofty patriotism he gratefully but firmly declined the provision. He said, "The precedent is an un- safe one at all times, and especially so now in the distressed condition of our people, whose lot I claim to be my lot." Governor Letcher peace- fully passed to the final reward of a well-spent life, at Lexington, in the midst of his family, January 26th, 1884. A joint resolution of re- spect to his memory was passed by the General Assembly then in session, and eloquent and touching eulogies to his worth were delivered in both of its branches. In the preamble to the resolutions the eminent services of Governor Letcher are thus recited : "Through a life-time covering the most eventful period in the history of Virginia, the great powers of his mind and the warm affections of his heart were devoted with constant faithfulness and energy to the service of his State and country. As a representative of Virginia in the Congress of the United States, as her Governor in the most trying epoch of her history, he won the love and admiration of her people, and a place in that history, where his name
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