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Henry H

Henry Horatio Wells (17 September 1823-12 February 1900) was the Republican Governor of Virginia from 1868 to 1869, succeeding Francis Harrison Pierpont and preceding Gilbert Carlton Walker.

Biography[]

Henry Horatio Wells was born in Rochester, New York in 1823, and he was raised in Detroit, Michigan. He practiced law and served in the State House from 1854 to 1856, advocating for temperance, free public schools, the abolition of slavery, and civil and political rights for African-Americans, and he served as colonel of the 26th Michigan Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Wells was assigned to police the Union-held territories south of the Potomac River during the war, based from Alexandria, Virginia. He served as the Radical Republican provisional governor of Virginia from 1868 to 1869, but he was defeated for re-election and served as a US Attorney from 1870 to 1872. He practiced law in Washington DC and served as a US Attorney from 1875 to 1880, and he died in 1900.

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