Henry Horatio Wells (September 17, 1823February 12, 1900), a Michigan lawyer and Union Army officer in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, succeeded

Francis Harrison Pierpont Francis Harrison Pierpont (January 25, 1814March 24, 1899), called the "Father of West Virginia," was an American lawyer and politician who achieved prominence during the American Civil War. During the conflict's first two years, Pierpont served ...

as the appointed provisional

governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

from 1868 to 1869 during

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. A

Radical Republican The Radical Republicans (later also known as "Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Recon ...

labeled a carpetbagger, Wells was defeated for election in 1869 by Gilbert C. Walker, who also became his appointed successor. Wells then served as

U.S. Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for Virginia and later for the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Early and family life

Henry Wells was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

and raised in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. He attended Romeo Academy, then read law with Theodore Romeyn. In 1848 Wells married Millicent Hunt of Detroit, with whom he had a son and a daughter before she died after giving birth to that short-lived daughter in 1852. In 1854, Wells married Phoebe Higby, and they had a daughter.

Michigan legal and political career

Wells was admitted to the Michigan bar circa 1846. In his private legal practice, Wells defended men accused of assisting

fugitive slaves In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th century to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called freed ...

. Wells joined the new Republican Party and ran for office. Voters later elected Wells to the Michigan House of Representatives. He served one term (1854–1856) and advocated temperance, free public schools, abolition of slavery, and extending civil and political rights to African Americans.

Military career

During the

, Wells received a commission as a major in the 26th Michigan Infantry and was soon promoted to lieutenant colonel. His unit was assigned to

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

to occupy that city in the controlled part of the Union

Army of Virginia The Army of Virginia was organized as a major unit of the Union Army and operated briefly and unsuccessfully in 1862 in the American Civil War. It should not be confused with its principal opponent, the Confederate Army of ''Northern'' Virginia ...

. As provost marshal since February 1863 (and full colonel as of March 30, 1864), Wells led military police in Alexandria, and soon supervised law enforcement in all Union-controlled territory south of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

(who had helped establish

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

in 1861) was appointed governor of Union-controlled portions of Virginia during the war and made Alexandria his headquarters. Fellow abolitionist

John Curtiss Underwood John Curtiss Underwood (March 14, 1809 – December 7, 1873) was an attorney, abolitionist politician and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia and the United States District Court for ...

became the U.S. District Judge stationed in Alexandria. After President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

's assassination in April 1865, Wells played an important role in pursuing and apprehending the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, in a barn in

Caroline County, Virginia Caroline County is a county (United States), United States county located in the eastern part of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The northern boundary of the county borders on the Rappahannock River, notably at the hist ...

. Wells had interrogated Dr. Samuel Mudd, which had led to the crucial tip. He was also associated with the proceedings before Judge Underwood in which the captured Jefferson Davis was charged with treason (although that prosecution was later quashed). Wells received a promotion to brevet brigadier general in May 1865. On May 9, 1865, Virginia's Confederate Governor General William Smith was arrested, and President Andrew Johnson appointed Pierpont as Virginia's provisional governor. Pierpont moved the state government's seat back to Richmond but became unpopular. In 1864, Pierpont called a constitutional convention in Alexandria that abolished slavery. That constitution was thus temporarily extended to the entire state until a new constitution (without the slavery provisions in Virginia's Constitution of 1850) could be drafted and adopted.

Political career

After ending his military service on September 21, 1865, Wells resumed private legal practice. He remained in Alexandria and was active in the Alexandria Canal Company, and then the Alexandria Canal, Railroad, and Bridge Company, which constructed a canal in what became

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

and bridge to

Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) Georgetown is a historic neighborhood, and commercial and entertainment district located in Northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751 in the Province of Maryland, the port of Georgetown predated the establishm ...

. He associated with Judge Underwood and local Alexandria attorney S. Ferguson Beach, who held Radical Republican views. Wells firmly supported recognizing the civil rights of African Americans. In 1866, the

Radical Republicans The Radical Republicans (later also known as "Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Recons ...

in Congress won large majorities and soon took charge. They closed down the state's civilian government and put Virginia (and nine other former Confederate states) under military rule. Virginia was administered as the "

First Military District The First Military District of the U.S. Army was one of five temporary administrative units of the U.S. War Department that existed in the American South. The district was stipulated by the Reconstruction Acts during the Reconstruction period f ...

" in 1867–69 under General

John Schofield John McAllister Schofield (September 29, 1831 – March 4, 1906) was an American soldier who held major commands during the American Civil War. He was appointed U.S. Secretary of War (1868–1869) under President Andrew Johnson and later served ...

. Schofield oversaw the transition to civilian rule after Virginia's voters (including freedmen) selected delegates to write a constitution to succeed the 1864 document (and the 1850 Virginia Constitution, which explicitly recognized and permitted slavery). The convention (which included 20 African American delegates) began meeting on December 3, 1867. Delegates elected Judge Underwood their president, and Rev. James W. Hunnicutt to head the committee on suffrage. Wells and Hunnicutt wanted to protect Black voting rights and disenfranchise Confederate veterans and sympathizers. Other Virginians, who had previously been politically active and supported the Confederate government, met in December 1867. Led by

Alexander H.H. Stuart Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (April 2, 1807 – February 13, 1891) was a prominent Virginia lawyer and American political figure associated with several political parties. Stuart served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly (1836-1 ...

of Staunton, they established the Conservative Party of Virginia to oppose whatever the Underwood Convention proposed. Another opposition leader was

William Mahone William Mahone (December 1, 1826October 8, 1895) was an American civil engineer, railroad executive, Confederate States Army general, and Virginia politician. As a young man, Mahone was prominent in the building of Virginia's roads and railroa ...

(1826–1895), a railroad president and former Confederate general who said it was time for a New Departure for the state's Conservative Party (it merged with the Democratic party in 1883). Nonetheless, whites had to accept the results of the war, including civil rights and the vote for freedmen. Governor Pierpont had become unpopular with all sides. On April 4, 1868, General Schofield removed him and appointed his friend Wells in his place. On May 6 and 7, 1868, Virginia's Republican convention nominated Wells for governor on a ticket with James H. Clements for lieutenant governor and Thomas R. Bowden for attorney general. The Conservatives nominated Robert E. Withers. However, the new constitution needed to be ratified before such an election could be held, and the provisions disenfranchising former Confederates were controversial. General Schofield postponed the scheduled June 2, 1868 ratification vote. On Christmas Day, 1868, both Richmond newspapers published a letter from Stuart advocating "universal amnesty". General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

and influential Republican Congressmen had met with Virginia's Conservative leaders (including the

Committee of Nine The Committee of Nine was a group of conservative political leaders in Virginia, led by Alexander H. H. Stuart, following the American Civil War, when Virginia was required to adopt a new Constitution acknowledging the abolition of slavery before i ...

formed about a week after Stuart's letter), as well as Wells and his allies, and Gilbert C. Walker (another former Northerner turned Norfolk businessman) and Franklin Stearns of Richmond). Grant intervened and supported Schofield in protecting the voting rights of Confederate veterans. The multiple federally supervised Virginia elections in 1869 thus included a vote on the new state constitution, a separate one on its disfranchisement clause that would have stripped the vote from most former Confederates, and a separate vote for state officials. Republicans again nominated Wells for Virginia's governor in March 1869 on a ticket with Black physician J.D. Harris for lieutenant governor. However, in the

1869 Events January–March * January 3 – Abdur Rahman Khan is defeated at Tinah Khan, and exiled from Afghanistan. * January 5 – Scotland's oldest professional Soccer, football team, Kilmarnock F.C., is founded. * January 20 & ...

on July 6, 1869, voters selected Gilbert C. Walker, who had support from both Mahone's "True Republicans" and the Conservatives, by a vote of 119,535 to 101,204. Voters also resoundingly rejected the Confederate disfranchisement clause. Thus, Virginia became the only Southern state not to have a civilian Radical government during

. Wells gave up his office on September 21, 1869, and Schofield appointed Walker his successor until the newly elected governor's swearing-in on January 1, 1870.

Later career

Wells sought a federal judgeship but was unsuccessful. As an attorney with former governor Henry A. Wise (who had opposed Negro suffrage) in the April 1870 trial to decide whether George Chahoon or Henry K. Ellyson had become Richmond's mayor, Wells was among 300 people in attendance at the

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

session in Richmond on April 27, 1870. An overcrowded balcony collapsed, as did the courtroom's floor, which both fell into the hall of the Virginia House of Delegates. About 60 people died, and over a hundred people sustained serious injuries. Wells suffered several broken ribs. President Grant nominated Wells as

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Ro ...

. On May 28, 1870, the Senate approved Wells' nomination, and he served until 1872. Wells then moved to Washington, D.C., and resumed private legal practice. He served as

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (USADC) is the United States Attorney responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the ...

from September 1875 until January 1880. He then continued a private legal practice with his son Henry Hunt Wells, who had been his deputy U.S. Attorney, but who died in early 1894. Meanwhile, Wells had helped found the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

in 1878.

Death and legacy

Wells finally retired in 1895, after his wife Phoebe Higby Wells had died on July 20, 1893, and his health was failing. At some point, he traveled to what later became known as

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

and may have accompanied a friend on an around-the-world trip. On February 12, 1900, Wells died in his daughter's home in Palmyra, New York. He was buried beside his wife in the

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It is across the stre ...

, located in Washington, D.C. The

Library of Virginia The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and ...

has many of his papers. A Guide to the Henry H. Wells Executive Papers, 1868–1869
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Henry H. 1823 births 1900 deaths Governors of Virginia Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Virginia Republicans New York (state) Republicans Washington, D.C., Republicans Republican Party governors of Virginia Politicians from Rochester, New York Politicians from Richmond, Virginia People from Palmyra, New York 19th-century American politicians United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia United States Attorneys for the District of Columbia Lawyers from Richmond, Virginia Lawyers from Rochester, New York 19th-century American lawyers Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery