Francis T. Nicholls
Encyclopedia
Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls (August 20, 1834 January 4, 1912) was an American
attorney
, politician
, judge
, and a brigadier general
in the Confederate States Army
during the American Civil War
. He served two terms as the 28th Governor of Louisiana, first from 1876 to 1880 and then from 1888 to 1892.
Nicholls and such fellow Democrats as Richard Coke
of neighboring Texas
and Wade Hampton
of South Carolina
were called "Redeemer"
governors because their elections, coupled with the accession to the White House
of moderate Republican President
Rutherford B. Hayes
, essentially ended the power of Radical Republicans during Reconstruction. As things developed, the "Redeemers" imposed a one-party system
on the defeated South
which lasted for nearly a century.
, Louisiana
, the seat of Ascension Parish, the seventh son of Thomas Clark Nicholls
(himself a seventh son
) and Louisa Hannah (Drake) Nicholls, a sister of the poet Joseph Rodman Drake
and sister-in-law of Francis Redding Tillou. His paternal grandfather was Cornish American
Edward Church Nicholls. He attended Jefferson Academy in New Orleans and graduated in 1855 from the United States Military Academy
at West Point, New York
. Initially assigned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army
, he served in the third war
against the Seminoles in Florida
, but resigned his commission after a year and returned home.
He then attended the University of Louisiana (subsequently Tulane University
) in New Orleans. He practiced law in Napoleonville
, the seat of Assumption Parish, until the start of the Civil War.
Two weeks after the surrender of Fort Sumter
in the harbor of Charleston
, Nicholls wed the former Caroline Zilpha Guion, the daughter of George Seth Guion and the former Caroline Lucretia Winder. The couple had one son, Francis Welman Nicholls (born 1863), and six daughters, Caroline (born 1865), Louisa (born 1868), Harriet (born 1870), Virginia (born 1873), Margaret (born 1875), and Elizabeth (born 1877).
Nicholls joined the Confederate Army in 1861 and participated in the First Battle of Bull Run
and in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign in Virginia
, where he lost his left arm. On October 14, 1862, Nicholls was promoted from lieutenant colonel
to the rank of brigadier general and given command of a brigade
of Louisiana infantry. During the Battle of Chancellorsville
, Virginia, in May 1863, a shell ripped off Nicholls' left foot.
Disabled and unfit for further field command, he was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department
to direct the Volunteer and Conscript Bureau until the end of the war.
. The outcome was disputed, and both men claimed victory. Nicholls garnered a majority of 8,000 votes, but the Republican-controlled State Returning Board cited irregularities and declared Packard the winner. As part of the Compromise of 1877
to resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876, President Hayes recognized the Democrat Nicholls as the winner.
During his first term, he battled political corruption, which was epitomized by Samuel James, the operator of the convict lease system, state Treasurer Edward A. Burke
, and Lieutenant Governor Louis A. Wiltz
, who supported the corrupt Louisiana Lottery
.
Nicholls chaired the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1879, and returned the state Capitol from New Orleans to Baton Rouge
. He also accepted an appointment from President Grover Cleveland
to the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Military Academy.
After his tenure as governor closed, Nicholls became Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court
in 1892, a post which he held until 1911. He also grew sugar cane and other crops on his Ridgefield Plantation near Thibodaux
, the seat of Lafourche Parish. He died at Ridgefield. Francis and Caroline Nicholls, Thomas Clark Nicholls, and other family members are interred in St. Johns's Episcopal Cemetery in Thibodaux.
Nicholls State University
is named for Francis Nicholls.
In 1940, a new public high school, Francis T. Nicholls High School, was opened at 3820 St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans. In the late 1990s the high school was renamed for former slave and abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass
and is now a part of the KIPP Family Schools as KIPP Renaissance. During the 1960s, the school was integrated and Black students fought to change the mascot from the Confederate flag to the current mascot, the Bobcat.
There is a "Governor Nicholls Street" in New Orleans. Where it meets the Mississippi River
near the downriver end of the French Quarter
, there is a Governor Nicholls Street Wharf
. Atop the wharf shed there, the United States Coast Guard
built a manned control tower with a red and green traffic signal to control vessel traffic rounding Algiers Point
. When speaking to the controller via marine VHF radio
, mariners address him or her familiarly as "Governor Nick."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, and a brigadier general
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
in the Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. He served two terms as the 28th Governor of Louisiana, first from 1876 to 1880 and then from 1888 to 1892.
Nicholls and such fellow Democrats as Richard Coke
Richard Coke
Richard Coke was an American lawyer, farmer, and statesman from Waco, Texas. He was the 15th governor of Texas from 1874 to 1876 and represented Texas in the U.S. Senate from 1877 to 1895. His uncle was Congressman Richard Coke, Jr..Coke was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, to John and Eliza Coke...
of neighboring Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Wade Hampton
Wade Hampton III
Wade Hampton III was a Confederate cavalry leader during the American Civil War and afterward a politician from South Carolina, serving as its 77th Governor and as a U.S...
of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
were called "Redeemer"
Redeemers
In United States history, "Redeemers" and "Redemption" were terms used by white Southerners to describe a political coalition in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era which followed the American Civil War...
governors because their elections, coupled with the accession to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
of moderate Republican President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
, essentially ended the power of Radical Republicans during Reconstruction. As things developed, the "Redeemers" imposed a one-party system
Solid South
Solid South is the electoral support of the Southern United States for the Democratic Party candidates for nearly a century from 1877, the end of Reconstruction, to 1964, during the middle of the Civil Rights era....
on the defeated South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
which lasted for nearly a century.
Early life and career
Nicholls was born in DonaldsonvilleDonaldsonville, Louisiana
Donaldsonville is a city in and the parish seat of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the west bank of the Mississippi River. The population was 7,605 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:Acadians began to settle in the area in...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, the seat of Ascension Parish, the seventh son of Thomas Clark Nicholls
Thomas Clark Nicholls
Thomas Clark Nicholls was a Louisiana jurist and temperance crusader in the 1830s and 1840s. Nicholls died almost three decades before his son, Francis T. Nicholls, was first elected governor in 1876....
(himself a seventh son
Seventh son of a seventh son
The seventh son of a seventh son is a concept from folklore regarding special powers given to, or held by, such a son. The seventh son must come from an unbroken line with no female children born between, and be, in turn, born to such a seventh son...
) and Louisa Hannah (Drake) Nicholls, a sister of the poet Joseph Rodman Drake
Joseph Rodman Drake
Joseph Rodman Drake was an early American poet.- Biography :Born in New York City, he was orphaned when young and entered a mercantile house. While still a child, he showed a talent for writing poems. He was educated at Columbia. In 1813 he began studying in a physician's office...
and sister-in-law of Francis Redding Tillou. His paternal grandfather was Cornish American
Cornish American
Cornish Americans are citizens of the United States who describe themselves as having Cornish ancestry. Cornish ancestry is not recognised on the United States Census, although the Cornish people are recognised as a separate ethnic group and national identity for the United Kingdom Census...
Edward Church Nicholls. He attended Jefferson Academy in New Orleans and graduated in 1855 from the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
at West Point, New York
West Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...
. Initially assigned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, he served in the third war
Seminole Wars
The Seminole Wars, also known as the Florida Wars, were three conflicts in Florida between the Seminole — the collective name given to the amalgamation of various groups of native Americans and Black people who settled in Florida in the early 18th century — and the United States Army...
against the Seminoles in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, but resigned his commission after a year and returned home.
He then attended the University of Louisiana (subsequently Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
) in New Orleans. He practiced law in Napoleonville
Napoleonville, Louisiana
Napoleonville is a village in and the parish seat of Assumption Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 686 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Pierre Part Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, the seat of Assumption Parish, until the start of the Civil War.
Two weeks after the surrender of Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
in the harbor of Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, Nicholls wed the former Caroline Zilpha Guion, the daughter of George Seth Guion and the former Caroline Lucretia Winder. The couple had one son, Francis Welman Nicholls (born 1863), and six daughters, Caroline (born 1865), Louisa (born 1868), Harriet (born 1870), Virginia (born 1873), Margaret (born 1875), and Elizabeth (born 1877).
Civil War
First Battle of Bull Run
First Battle of Bull Run, also known as First Manassas , was fought on July 21, 1861, in Prince William County, Virginia, near the City of Manassas...
and in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, where he lost his left arm. On October 14, 1862, Nicholls was promoted from lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
to the rank of brigadier general and given command of a brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
of Louisiana infantry. During the Battle of Chancellorsville
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on...
, Virginia, in May 1863, a shell ripped off Nicholls' left foot.
Disabled and unfit for further field command, he was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department
Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War
The Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War was the major military and naval operations west of the Mississippi River. The area excluded the states and territories bordering the Pacific Ocean, which formed the Pacific Coast Theater of the American Civil War.The campaign classification...
to direct the Volunteer and Conscript Bureau until the end of the war.
Postbellum
After the war, Nicholls returned to his law practice. In 1876, he ran for governor against the Republican Stephen B. PackardStephen B. Packard
Stephen Bennett Packard , a native of Maine, emerged as an important Republican politician in Louisiana during the era of Reconstruction...
. The outcome was disputed, and both men claimed victory. Nicholls garnered a majority of 8,000 votes, but the Republican-controlled State Returning Board cited irregularities and declared Packard the winner. As part of the Compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877, also known as the Corrupt Bargain, refers to a purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election and ended Congressional Reconstruction. Through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House over Democrat Samuel J...
to resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876, President Hayes recognized the Democrat Nicholls as the winner.
During his first term, he battled political corruption, which was epitomized by Samuel James, the operator of the convict lease system, state Treasurer Edward A. Burke
Edward A. Burke
Edward Austin Burke or Burk was the Democratic State Treasurer of Louisiana from 1878 to 1888. Burke was the first Democrat to hold the office of Louisiana Treasurer following Reconstruction. Burke later fled to Honduras after it was discovered that there were misappropriations of state treasury...
, and Lieutenant Governor Louis A. Wiltz
Louis A. Wiltz
Louis Alfred Wiltz was an American politician from the state of Louisiana. He served as 29th Governor of Louisiana from 1880 to 1881 and before that time was mayor of New Orleans, lieutenant governor of Louisiana, and a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.Wiltz was born in New Orleans...
, who supported the corrupt Louisiana Lottery
Louisiana State Lottery Company
The Louisiana State Lottery Company was a private corporation that in the mid-19th century ran the Louisiana lottery. It was for a time the only legal lottery in the United States, and for much of that time had a very foul reputation as a swindle of the state and citizens and a repository of...
.
Nicholls chaired the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1879, and returned the state Capitol from New Orleans to Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
. He also accepted an appointment from President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
to the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Military Academy.
After his tenure as governor closed, Nicholls became Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
in 1892, a post which he held until 1911. He also grew sugar cane and other crops on his Ridgefield Plantation near Thibodaux
Thibodaux, Louisiana
Thibodaux is a small city in and the parish seat of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the banks of Bayou Lafourche in the northwestern part of the parish. The population was 14,431 at the 2000 census. Thibodaux is a principal city of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux...
, the seat of Lafourche Parish. He died at Ridgefield. Francis and Caroline Nicholls, Thomas Clark Nicholls, and other family members are interred in St. Johns's Episcopal Cemetery in Thibodaux.
Nicholls State University
Nicholls State University
Nicholls State University, founded in 1948, is a public university located in Thibodaux, Louisiana, USA. Nicholls is part of the University of Louisiana System of universities. Originally called Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the institution split from the Louisiana State University System in...
is named for Francis Nicholls.
Memorialization
From 1913 to about 1950, there was a vocational school at 3649 Laurel Street in New Orleans named for Nicholls. It opened as the Francis T. Nicholls Industrial School for Girls, and offered secondary vocational training, concentrating on apparel manufacturing. The school was later renamed Nicholls Vocational School for Girls, and even later Nicholls Evening Vocational School.In 1940, a new public high school, Francis T. Nicholls High School, was opened at 3820 St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans. In the late 1990s the high school was renamed for former slave and abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
and is now a part of the KIPP Family Schools as KIPP Renaissance. During the 1960s, the school was integrated and Black students fought to change the mascot from the Confederate flag to the current mascot, the Bobcat.
There is a "Governor Nicholls Street" in New Orleans. Where it meets the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
near the downriver end of the French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
, there is a Governor Nicholls Street Wharf
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
. Atop the wharf shed there, the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
built a manned control tower with a red and green traffic signal to control vessel traffic rounding Algiers Point
Algiers Point
Algiers Point is a location on the Lower Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana. In river pilotage, Algiers Point is simply one of the many points of land around which the river flows—albeit a significant one...
. When speaking to the controller via marine VHF radio
Marine VHF radio
Marine VHF radio is installed on all large ships and most seagoing small craft. It is used for a wide variety of purposes, including summoning rescue services and communicating with harbours, locks, bridges and marinas, and operates in the VHF frequency range, between 156 to 174 MHz...
, mariners address him or her familiarly as "Governor Nick."
See also
- List of American Civil War generals
- Garnie W. McGintyGarnie W. McGintyGarnie William McGinty was an historian whose career was principally based for thirty-five years at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana.-Biography:...
, "Francis Tillou Redding Nicholls," North Louisiana HistoryNorth Louisiana HistoryNorth Louisiana History is an academic journal published twice annually in Shreveport, Louisiana by the North Louisiana Historical Association .-History:...
, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Winter 1984), pp. 30–39