Wingate Hayes (1823–1877) was Speaker of the

Rhode Island House of Representatives The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the upper house being the Rhode Island Senate. It is composed of 75 members, elected t ...

and

U.S. District 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 c ...

for the district of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

during 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 ...

. In 1823 Wingate Hayes was born in

Farmington, New Hampshire Farmington is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,722 at the 2020 census. Farmington is home to Blue Job State Forest, the Tebbetts Hill Reservation, and Baxter Lake. The town center, where 3,824 peopl ...

to John and Sarah Hayes. Hayes graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1844 and then studied in the office of

Richard Ward Greene Richard Ward Greene (January 21, 1792 – March 14, 1875), was an American attorney, having graduated from Brown University and having studied law at Litchfield College and under Boston lawyer Ebenezer Rockwell. He was appointed U.S. attorney for ...

in Rhode Island. He was admitted to the bar in 1847. Hayes served on the

Providence City Council The Providence City Council is the fifteen-member legislative body of the city of Providence, Rhode Island. The two major responsibilities of the council are enacting ordinances necessary to ensure the welfare and good order of the city and a ...

and in the

, where he was elected Speaker, serving from 1859 to 1860. Hayes also served as assistant

adjutant general An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

and division inspector, with rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

. 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 ...

appointed Hayes to be the U.S. District Attorney for Rhode Island serving from 1861 to 1871. 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 ...

tried unsuccessfully to replace Hayes, and Hayes eventually resigned to private practice.Historical catalogue of Brown University (Brown University 1895) https://books.google.com/books?id=jzMbAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s He mentored and later partnered with future Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Matteson.Stephen O. Edwards, "The Supreme Court of Rhode Island", in Horace Williams Fuller, et al., eds., '' The Green Bag'', Vol. 2. (1890), p. 542. Hayes was also involved in various railroads and other enterprises. He died in 1877.

References and external links

Abraham Payne ''Reminiscences of the Rhode Island Bar'' (Tibbitts & Preston: Providence, 1885), 227-232 (accessed on Google Book Search)Rhode Island Speakers of the House of Representatives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Wingate People from Farmington, New Hampshire Providence City Council members Members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Speakers of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Brown University alumni Businesspeople from Rhode Island United States Attorneys for the District of Rhode Island 1823 births 1877 deaths 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople