Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls (August 20, 1834January 4, 1912) was an American attorney, politician, judge, and a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

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 ...

. He served two terms as the 28th Governor of Louisiana, first from 1876 to 1880 after the Reconstruction era ended and from 1888 to 1892.

Early life and career

Nicholls was born at Prevost Memorial Hospital in

Donaldsonville, Louisiana Donaldsonville (historically french: Lafourche-des-Chitimachas) is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the ...

, the seat of

Ascension Parish Ascension Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ascension, es, Parroquia de Ascensión) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 126,500. Its parish seat is Donaldsonville. The parish was created ...

, the seventh son of Thomas Clark Nicholls ( himself a seventh son) and Louisa Hannah (Drake) Nicholls, a sister of the poet

Joseph Rodman Drake Joseph Rodman Drake (August 7, 1795 – September 21, 1820) was an early American poet. Biography Born in New York City, he was orphaned when young and entered a mercantile house. While still a child, he showed a talent for writing poems. He wa ...

and sister-in-law of Francis Redding Tillou. His paternal grandfather was Cornish American Edward Church Nicholls. He attended Jefferson Academy in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

and graduated in 1855 from the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...

. Initially assigned as a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery Regiment, he served in the

Third Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were three related military conflicts in Florida between the United States and the Seminole, citizens of a Native American nation which formed in the region during the early 1700s. Hostilities ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, but resigned his commission after a year and returned home. He then attended the University of Louisiana (subsequently

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

) in New Orleans. He practiced law in Napoleonville, the seat of

Assumption Parish Assumption Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Assomption, es, Parroquia de la Asunción) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,421. Its parish seat is Napoleonville. Assumption Parish was ...

, until the start of the Civil War. Two weeks after the surrender of

Fort Sumter Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island protecting Charleston, South Carolina from naval invasion. Its origin dates to the War of 1812 when the British invaded Washington by sea. It was still incomplete in 1861 when the Battle ...

in the harbor of Charleston, Nicholls wed the former Caroline Zilpha Guion, the daughter of George Seth Guion and the former Caroline Lucretia Winder. The couple had one son, Francis Welman Nicholls (born 1863), and six daughters, Caroline (born 1865), Louisa (born 1868), Harriet (born 1870), Virginia (born 1873), Margaret (born 1875), and Elizabeth (born 1877).

Civil War

Nicholls joined the Confederate Army in 1861 as a captain in the 8th Louisiana Infantry Regiment and participated in the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

and in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, where his left arm was amputated. In July 1862 he became colonel of the just formed 15th Louisiana Infantry and on October 14, 1862, Nicholls was promoted to the rank of

and given command of a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. B ...

of Louisiana infantry. While leading a brigade during the

Battle of Chancellorsville The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...

, a shell ripped off Nicholls' left foot, forcing him to retire from combat service. According to James Whitcomb Brougher Sr., in ''Life and Laughter'', (p. 89) he lost an eye at Richmond. Disabled and unfit for further field command, he was transferred to the

Trans-Mississippi Department The Trans-Mississippi Department was a geographical subdivision of the Confederate States Army comprising Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, western Louisiana, Arizona Territory and the Indian Territory; i.e. all of the Confederacy west of the Mississi ...

to direct the Volunteer and Conscript Bureau until the end of the war. In 1874, while testifying before a Congressional Committee investigating election fraud in Louisiana, Nicholls said of his service in the war; "I think that we made the attempt he war for secessionunder the most favorable circumstances...of course we all regret our want for success; but I do not believe that there is anywhere any desire for a renewal of the attempt." and that "My war record is a source of private misfortune without a corresponding gain to anyone. My services to my country were not worth the price to me. Every battle I went into I was wounded, and so I could not serve all the time."

Postbellum

After the war, Nicholls returned to his law practice. In 1876, he ran for governor against the Republican Stephen B. Packard. The outcome was disputed, and both men claimed victory. Nicholls garnered a majority of 8,000 votes, but the Republican-controlled State Returning Board cited irregularities and declared Packard the winner. As part of the Compromise of 1877 to resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876, President Hayes recognized the Democrat Nicholls as the winner. During his first term, he battled political corruption, which was epitomized by Samuel James, the operator of the

convict lease Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor which was practiced historically in the Southern United States, the laborers being mainly African-American men; it was ended during the 20th century. (Convict labor in general continues; f ...

system, state Treasurer Edward A. Burke, and Lieutenant Governor

Louis A. Wiltz Louis Alfred Wiltz (January 21, 1843 – October 16, 1881) was an American politician from the state of Louisiana. He served as 29th Governor of Louisiana from 1880 to 1881 and before that time was mayor of New Orleans, lieutenant governor of L ...

, who supported the corrupt Louisiana Lottery. Nicholls chaired the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1879, and returned the state capital from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Nicholls was governor of Louisiana in 1891, the year eleven Italians were

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

in New Orleans. Shortly before the incident, as thousands of angry protesters gathered near the Parish Prison, the Italian consul in New Orleans sought the governor's help. Nicholls declined to intervene. After his tenure as governor closed, Nicholls became Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1892, a post which he held until 1911. He also grew sugarcane and other crops on his Ridgefield Plantation near

Thibodaux Thibodaux ( ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the banks of Bayou Lafourche in the northwestern part of the parish. The population was 15,948 at the 2020 census. Thibodaux is a principal city ...

, the seat of

Lafourche Parish Lafourche Parish (french: Paroisse de la Fourche) is a parish located in the south of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Thibodaux. The parish was formed in 1807. It was originally the northern part of Lafourche Interior Parish, whi ...

. He died at Ridgefield. Francis and Caroline Nicholls, Thomas Clark Nicholls, and other family members are interred in

St. John's Episcopal Church and Cemetery St. John's Episcopal Church and Cemetery is a historic church located at 718 Jackson Street in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Erected in 1843, the brick church was a Greek Revival building. Despite some alterations in 1867 or 1868 the building still ret ...

in Thibodaux.

Memorialization

From 1913 to about 1950, there was a vocational school at 3649 Laurel Street in New Orleans named for Nicholls. It opened as the Francis T. Nicholls Industrial School for Girls, and offered secondary vocational training, concentrating on apparel manufacturing. The school was later renamed Nicholls Vocational School for Girls, and even later Nicholls Evening Vocational School. In 1940, a new

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Francis T. Nicholls High School Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural ...

, was opened at 3820 St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans. In the late 1990s the high school was renamed for former slave and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

leader

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

. It is now a

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

, part of the KIPP Family Schools and known as KIPP Renaissance High School. During the 1960s, the school was integrated and

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

students fought to change the team names from ''The Rebels'' and the mascot from the

Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

to the current Bobcat. There is a "Governor Nicholls Street" in New Orleans. Where it meets the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

near the downriver end of the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Sq ...

, there is a Governor Nicholls Street

Wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

. Atop the wharf shed there, the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

built a manned control tower with a red and green traffic signal to control vessel traffic rounding

Algiers Point Algiers Point is a location on the Lower Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana. In river pilotage, Algiers Point is one of the many points of land around which the river flows—albeit a significant one. Since the 1970s, the name Algie ...

. When speaking to the controller via

marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio is a worldwide system of two way radio transceivers on ships and watercraft used for bidirectional voice communication from ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore (for example with harbormasters), and in certain circumstances ship-to-a ...

, mariners address him or her familiarly as "Governor Nick." In Baton Rouge, there is a sculpture of Nicholls by

Isidore Konti Isidore Konti (July 9, 1862 – January 11, 1938) was a Vienna-born (of Hungarian parents) sculptor. He began formal art studies at the age of 16 when he entered the Imperial Academy in Vienna, where he studied under Edmund von Hellmer.''Colle ...

. Nicholls State University, founded in 1948, is a public university located in

, Louisiana. Nicholls is part of the

University of Louisiana System The University of Louisiana System (UL System) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It enrolls more students than the other three public university systems in the state. Its headquarters are in the Claiborne Building in ...

. Originally called Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the university is named for Francis T. Nicholls. He is played by James Bearden in the 1999 HBO original film ''

Vendetta Vendetta may refer to: * Feud or vendetta, a long-running argument or fight Film * ''Vendetta'' (1919 film), a film featuring Harry Liedtke * ''Vendetta'' (1950 film), an American drama produced by Howard Hughes * ''Vendetta'' (1986 film), a ...

''.

Notes

References

* Eicher, John H., and

David J. Eicher David John Eicher (born August 7, 1961) is an American editor, writer, and popularizer of astronomy and space. He has been editor-in-chief of ''Astronomy'' magazine since 2002. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 23 books on science and American ...

, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . * "Francis Tillou Nicholls", ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'', Vol. 2 (1988), p. 603. * Garnie W. McGinty, "Francis Tillou Redding Nicholls", ''

North Louisiana History ''North Louisiana History'' is an academic journal published twice annually in Shreveport, Louisiana by the North Louisiana Historical Association (NLHA). History The origin of ''North Louisiana History'' parallels the history of the NLHA it ...

'', Vol. 15, No. 1 (Winter 1984), pp. 30–39 * Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. . * Warner, Ezra J. ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. .

External links

State of Louisiana - BiographyCemetery Memorial
by La-Cemeteries
Nicholls State University
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Francis Tillou United States Military Academy alumni United States Army officers Confederate States Army brigadier generals People of Louisiana in the American Civil War Democratic Party governors of Louisiana Louisiana lawyers 1834 births 1912 deaths People from Thibodaux, Louisiana American people of Cornish descent Tulane University alumni Tulane University Law School alumni Chief Justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court American amputees American politicians with disabilities People from Donaldsonville, Louisiana People from Napoleonville, Louisiana 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American Episcopalians American anti-corruption activists