Henry Alexander Wise (3 December 1806-12 September 1876) was a member of the US House of Representatives (W-VA 8) from 4 March 1833 to 3 March 1843 (succeeding Richard Coke Jr. and preceding Willoughby Newton) and from VA-7 from 4 March 1843 to 12 February 1844 (succeeding William L. Goggin and preceding Thomas H. Bayly), and Governor of Virginia from 1 January 1856 to 1 January 1860 (succeeding Joseph Johnson and preceding John Letcher).
Biography[]
Henry Alexander Wise was born in Drummondtown, Accomack County, Virginia in 1806, and he became a lawyer in 1828, briefly moving to Nashville before returning home two years later. He served in the US House of Representatives from 1833 to 1844, being elected as a Jacksonian Democrat. However, he broke with the Jacksonians over the Bank War and became a Whig in 1836, and he was a faithful opponent of John Quincy Adams and abolitionism. In 1840, he secured the nomination and election of John Tyler as Vice President on the Whig ticket, and he supported Tyler during the intra-party struggles during the course of Tyler's presidency. In 1842, he was re-elected to the House as a "Tyler Democrat", and he served as Minister to Brazil from 1844 to 1847. In 1847, he returned to the United States, and he served as the Democratic Governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860. One of his last acts was to sign John Brown's execution order, and he vehemently advocated for secession at the start of the American Civil War. He was commissioned as a Brigadier-General in the Confederate States Army, and he was blamed for the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Carnifex Ferry in 1861 and removed from his command in West Virginia. He later commanded Roanoke Island before its fall in 1862, and he commanded a brigade during the Seven Days' Battles. In 1864, his brigade saved Petersburg from Union attack during the First Battle of Petersburg, and he ultimately surrendered alongside Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in April 1865. After the war, he practiced law in Richmond, settling there for the rest of his life. He later became a Republican and a strong supporter of Ulysses S. Grant, and he died in 1876. His sons Richard Alsop Wise and John Sergeant Wise went on to become Republican congressmen.
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