Waller Redd Staples (February 24, 1826 – August 21, 1897) was a Virginia lawyer, slave-owner and politician who was briefly a member of the
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...
before 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 th ...
, became a
Congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
serving the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
during the war, and after receiving a pardon at the war's end became a judge of the
Virginia Court of Appeals, and law professor at
Washington and Lee University
, mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future"
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.092 billion (2021)
, president = William C. Dudley
, provost = Lena Hill
, city = Lexingto ...
, as well as revisor of Virginia's laws (1884-1887).
Early and family life
Staples was born in
Patrick County, Virginia
Patrick County is a county located on the central southern border of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,608. Its county seat is Stuart. It is located within both the rolling hills and valleys of the Pie ...
to Col. Abram Penn Staples and his wife, the former Mary Stovall Penn. His paternal grandfather Samuel G. Staples and his maternal grandfather Abram Penn had served as soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, the former leading militia from Buckingham County, Virginia including at the
Battle of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...
, and the latter leading militia from Henry County. His father was the clerk for Patrick county, as had been his grandfather, Keziah Staples. His elder brother
Samuel Granville Staples (1821-1895) would remain in Patrick County and run a plantation before the war, and like his father become a delegate and like his younger brother a judge. The Staples sons received a private education, then Waller Staples attended the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
for two years, before moving to Williamsburg to study at the
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...
and graduated in 1845, then began reading law under the guidance of judge
Norbonne Taliaferro in
Franklin County.
Staples was active in the Presbyterian Church, but either never married, or if he did marry, his wife died between censuses.
Career
After graduation and admission to the Virginia bar, Staples moved to the mountains of
Montgomery County, Virginia
Montgomery County is a county located in the Valley and Ridge area of the U.S. state of Virginia. As population in the area increased, Montgomery County was formed in 1777 from Fincastle County, which in turn had been taken from Botetourt Count ...
to begin his private legal practice in its county seat,
Christiansburg, as well as adjacent counties. He lived with and worked under the guidance of
William Ballard Preston
William Ballard Preston (November 25, 1805 – November 16, 1862) was an American politician who served as a Confederate States Senator from Virginia from February 18, 1862, until his death in November. He previously served as the 19th United S ...
, who had served as Secretary of the Navy during the administration of President
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...
and was a cousin of his mother. Staples later noted that he never received a fee greater than $2000 until after 1883, when he began representing greater interests in private practice (after being removed from the Virginia Court of Appeals along with all his colleagues in a massive legislative reorganization0.
Meanwhile, in 1854–1855, Staples represented Montgomery County in the
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...
as a
Whig. He then ran for the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
in the 12th district as a
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...
, but lost to the
Democratic incumbent,
Henry A. Edmundson.
By 1860, Staples lived in a Christiansburg hotel owned by Thomas Wilson, as did several other lawyers and male professionals with less wealth than he. In that census, Staples owned 41 enslaved persons in Montgomery County, of whom three lived at his Christiansburg residence and the remainder lived and worked further out in the county.
However, he opposed secession until Virginia voters accepted the recommendation of the
Virginia Secession Convention of 1861
The Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 was called in Richmond to determine whether Virginia would secede from the United States, to govern the state during a state of emergency, and to write a new Constitution for Virginia, which was subsequent ...
. Then he paid to outfit the "New River Grays", a militia unit led by Dr. James Preston Hammett (a VMI graduate who later studied medicine in Philadelphia), which was mustered into the Confederate Army as Company H of the
24th Virginia Infantry
The 24th Virginia Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in southwestern Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought throughout the conflict, mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. Th ...
.
Confederate legislator
After Virginia's
secession
Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
from the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
and acceptance into the Confederate States, Staples was named one of Virginia's four delegates to the
Provisional Confederate States Congress
The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, also known as the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing body ...
on February 22, 1862, alongside
William C. Rives
William Cabell Rives (May 4, 1793April 25, 1868) was an American lawyer, planter, politician and diplomat from Virginia. Initially a Jacksonian democracy, Jackson Democrat as well as member of the First Families of Virginia, Rives served in the Vi ...
,
R. M. T. Hunter and
John W. Brockenbrough
John White Brockenbrough (December 23, 1806 – February 20, 1877) was a Virginia attorney, law professor, U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, and Confederate States congressman and distr ...
. The next year, he was elected to the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second Confederate Congress
The 2nd Confederate States Congress, consisting of the Confederate States Senate and the Confederate States House of Representatives, met from May 2, 1864, to March 18, 1865, during the last year of Jefferson Davis's presidency, at the Virginia S ...
es, serving in the
Confederate House of Representatives from 1862 to the end of the war. His brother Samuel G. Staples volunteered for the Confederate States Army and served as an aide to General J.E.B. Stuart; his relatives James S. Redd and Spottswood Redd were also captains. Waller Staples appears to have served in Wade's local defense regiment for Washington and Wythe Counties, Virginia, and became a critic of President Jefferson Davis by war's end.
Postwar judicial and legal career
Months after the Confederacy conceded defeat, Staples signed documentation that he would never again own any slaves, as well as assurances of future loyalty to the Union, and received a federal pardon from President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
on November 3, 1865. He then resumed his law practice in Montgomery County. However, his financial condition had substantially declined, so that at age 43 in 1870, Staples only owned about $10,000 in real estate and $5,000 in personal property.
In February, 1870, months after Virginia voters rejected a proposed constitutional provision making former high Confederate officeholders ineligible to hold public office (but did approve the constitution which allowed its readmission to the Union), the newly elected and reassembled Virginia General Assembly elected Staples to the
Supreme Court of Appeals
The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...
for a twelve-year term. He received the second highest number of votes other than that for long-term Judge
Richard C. L. Moncure. While an appellate judge, Staples served as a member of
Washington and Lee University School of Law's faculty, from 1877 to 1878. His most famous decisions on the court may have actually been his dissents concerning the legality of the Funding Act of 1871.
By the time the terms of all the Court of Appeals' judges expired 1882 (despite a controversy over the term length of a judge appointed to replace a deceased jurist), the
Readjuster Party
The Readjuster Party was a bi-racial state-level political party formed in Virginia across party lines in the late 1870s during the turbulent period following the Reconstruction era that sought to reduce outstanding debt owed by the state. Readj ...
with which Staples sympathized controlled the state legislature. However, none of the judges on the Court of Appeals were re-elected. Nonetheless, the new Readjuster-leaning justices would later adopt what had been Staples' dissents in the state bond coupon cases. Thus, Staples returned to private practice, in partnership with
Beverly Munford in Richmond, the firm being named as Staples & Munford. The state of Virginia also hired Staples to argue the Coupon cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, assisting Virginia Attorney General
James G. Field
James Gaven Field (February 24, 1826 – October 12, 1901) was an American politician in California and Virginia, who was also a businessman, government clerk, and Confederate major. He became the Attorney General of Virginia and the vice presid ...
in ''Antoni v. Greenhow'' and ''Stewart v. Virginia'' (1885). Staples was also a
Democratic elector in the U.S. Presidential election of 1884, but refused to run for Governor nor Attorney General.
Beginning in 1884, Staples was also one of the revisors 1887 Code of Virginia, along
Edward C. Burks and
John W. Riely, both of whom had also served as Justices on the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia before the 1883 reorganization. In 1893-94, Staples became president of the
Virginia Bar Association
The Virginia Bar Association (VBA) is a voluntary organization of lawyers, judges and law school faculty and students in Virginia, with offices in Richmond, Virginia. Key elements are advocacy, professionalism, service and collegiality. It provi ...
. Perhaps his most lucrative client was the
Richmond and Danville Railroad
The Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D) Company was a railroad that operated independently from 1847 until 1894, first in the U.S. state of Virginia, and later on of track in nine states.
Chartered on March 9, 1847, the railroad completed its ...
.
In one of his more celebrated losses as a lawyer, Staples represented the administrators of the estate of a wealthy white man from
Pittsylvania County
Pittsylvania County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 60,501. Chatham is the county seat.
Pittsylvania County is included in the Danville, VA Micropolitan Statistical A ...
named Thomas estranged from his relatives after he acknowledged his daughters from a relationship with one of his former slaves, lived with those daughters, and repeatedly and on his deathbed in 1889 announced his intention to make the sole surviving daughter his only heir, but who died before actually executing a will. The Richmond Chancery Court—and later the Virginia Supreme Court in an opinion announced by Judge
Thomas T. Fauntleroy over a dissent by Judge
Benjamin W. Lacy—rejected the arguments made by Staples and his three co-counsel in favor of those made by his former colleague Burks and Republican leader
Edgar Allan
Edgar Allan (February 26, 1842 – October 28, 1904), emigrated from England to become a U.S. soldier during the American Civil War, then settled in Virginia, where he became a lawyer, a farmer and a leading Republican politician. He served in ...
and their co-counsel, making Bettie Lewis and her husband wealthy, although they soon moved to Philadelphia.
Governor
Fitzhugh Lee
Fitzhugh Lee (November 19, 1835 – April 28, 1905) was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was the son of Sydney S ...
appointed Staples to the board of visitors of
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in
Blacksburg on January 1, 1886, and his fellow members elected him rector (the university's highest position) on January 23, 1886, although Staples died about a year later.
Death and legacy
Staples may have become an invalid before he died in Christianburg in 1897. He is buried in Roanoke's Evergreen Cemetery. The Virginia bar published memorials concerning his legal acumen and service to the state and bar, cited above. His nephew Abram Penn Staples Sr. of Roanoke served on the Washington and Lee University law faculty, and that man's son
Abram Penn Staples Jr. would later like this Judge Staples serve on the Virginia Court of Appeals. Some of the Staples family papers, including references to an invalid uncle Judge by Daniel Staples, are now held by the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
library.
[ancestry.com does not include any records of Waller Staples in the 1890 census, although he appears to have lived alone in Christiansburg in 1880 as in 1870]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Staples, Waller Redd
1826 births
1897 deaths
Virginia lawyers
People from Patrick County, Virginia
College of William & Mary alumni
People from Christiansburg, Virginia
Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Virginia
19th-century American politicians
Members of the Virginia House of Delegates
Justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia
Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
Washington and Lee University School of Law faculty
Virginia Whigs
Virginia Know Nothings
American slave owners