Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/90

 GOVERNORS OF THE STATE

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1844 became minister to Brazil, where he re- mained until 1847. In 1850 he was elected to the state convention; in 1855, nominated for governor as a Democrat, defeating the American (or know-nothing) candidate when that party seemed irresistible. He was governor from January i, 1856, till January i, i860, and in 1859 suppressed the John Brown outbreak, ending in the execu- tion of Brown. In i860 he was prominently mentioned as a presidential candidate. In 1861 he was a member of the secession con- vention, and advocated '*fighting in the Union" for redress. When the decision was forced, he voted for secession. At the out- break of the war he was made brigadier- general, and sent to Western Virginia, where he won the battle of Scary Creek, but a misunderstanding with General Floyd led to his recall. Ordered to Roanoke Island, he remained until Burnside's assault, in

which his eldest son fell — Captain O. Jen- nings Wise; he himself was ill at Nag's Head, and escaped. He was later in the de- fenses of Chaffin's Farm, then transferred to South Carolina ; in May, 1864, he reached Petersburg with his command, just in time to resist the first attack on the city, which he held, at great odds; he remained here until the final movements of General Lee, and his was the last command engaged at Appomattox. After the war he resumed law practice in Richmond, and beyond brief service as commissioner to fix the Virginia- Maryland boundary lines, he took no part in public aflFairs. He was author of "Seven Decades of the Union," a most valuable work. "He possessed a remarkable and marked individuality, being one of the most eloquent public speakers of a period when oratory was a most common weapon." He died in Richmond. September 12, 1878.

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