Williams Carter Wickham (September 21, 1820 – July 23, 1888) was a

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 ...

lawyer and politician. A plantation owner who served in both houses 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, 161 ...

, Wickham also became a delegate to 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 ...

, where he voted against secession, but after fellow delegates and voters approved secession, he joined 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 ...

and rose to the rank of

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

general, then became a Confederate States Congressman near the end of 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 ...

. Later, Wickham became a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and helped rebuild Virginia's infrastructure after gaining control of the heavily damaged

Virginia Central Railroad The Virginia Central Railroad was an early railroad in the U.S. state of Virginia that operated between 1850 and 1868 from Richmond westward for to Covington. Chartered in 1836 as the Louisa Railroad by the Virginia General Assembly, the railr ...

, which he repaired and helped merge into the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

company. Cooperating with financier

Collis Huntington Collis Potter Huntington (October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) was an American industrialist and railway magnate. He was one of the Big Four of western railroading (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who invested ...

, Wickham developed coal resources and the Newport News Shipyard. He was also again elected to the Virginia Senate. His son Henry T. Wickham also became a lawyer and would work with his father and eventually twice become the speaker pro tempore of the Virginia Senate.

Early and family life

Wickham was born in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, the son of William Fanning Wickham and Anne Butler (née Carter) Wickham. His paternal grandfather John Wickham was a prominent Richmond lawyer and slaveowner who had moved from New York state to Richmond following the American Revolutionary War. His great-grandfather had been an Anglican minister in New York state, so he had relatives there. On his mother's side, Wickham descended from the

First Families of Virginia First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg ...

, specifically the Nelson and Carter families prominent in the

Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

. One of Wickham's maternal great-grandfathers, Gen.

Thomas Nelson, Jr. Thomas Nelson Jr. (December 26, 1738 – January 4, 1789) was an American Founding Father, soldier and statesman from Yorktown, Virginia. In addition to serving in the Virginia General Assembly for many terms, he twice represented Virginia in t ...

, had signed the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

as a Virginia delegate and served as

governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

during the American Revolutionary War.

Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson (1677–1747) was a businessman and politician who immigrated from England to become a merchant at Yorktown in the Colony of Virginia. He was from Penrith, Cumberland.

was one of the founders of Yorktown in the late 17th century. Wickham was also descended from

Robert "King" Carter Robert "King" Carter (4 August 1663 – 4 August 1732) was a merchant, planter and powerful politician in colonial Virginia. Born in Lancaster County, Carter eventually became one of the richest men in the Thirteen Colonies. As President of t ...

(1663–1732), who served as an acting royal governor of Virginia and was one of its wealthiest landowners (and largest slaveowners) in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His mother was a first cousin of Robert E. Lee, whose mother Anne Hill (née Carter) Lee, was born at

Shirley Plantation Shirley Plantation is an estate located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia, USA. It is located on scenic byway State Route 5, between Richmond and Williamsburg. It is the oldest active plantation in Virginia ...

. Wickham spent much of his youth at the

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

, Hickory Hill, located about north of Richmond and east of Ashland in

Hanover County Hanover County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 109,979. Its county seat is Hanover Courthouse. Hanover County is a part of the Greater Richmond Region. History Located in the wester ...

. Hickory Hill was long an outlying appendage to Shirley Plantation, much of it having come into possession of the Carter family by a deed dated March 2, 1734. Wickham received a private education appropriate to his class, then traveled to

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

for further studies. He graduated from 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 ...

. He married Lucy Penn Taylor and had several children, including Henry T. Wickam discussed below who followed his father's legal and political career path.

Career

Admitted to the Virginia bar in 1842, Wickham had a private legal practice, as well as operating plantations acquired through his marriage and using the profits of his legal practice. Meanwhile, his father W.F. Wickham continued to operate Hickory Hill, which was one of the two largest plantations in Hanover County, and with over 200 enslaved people by 1860, among the largest in the state, even though it raised comparatively little tobacco. W.C. Wickham became a local justice in Hanover County. Hanover County voters elected Wickham to 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 ...

in 1849 (although he only served a single term) and together with

Henrico county Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico County is incl ...

voters, elected him to the

Virginia Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

a decade later. In 1858, as planters responded to John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Wickham recruited a

company in Hanover County, the "Hanover Dragoons" and accepted a commission as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of Virginia volunteer

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

. In 1861

Henrico County Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico County is incl ...

voters elected Wickham as one of their delegates to the

. A Unionist, Wickham twice voted against the articles of

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 ...

Civil War

Following Virginia voters' approval of secession, Wickham took his company, the Hanover Dragoons, into the

. After participating in the

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

, Wickham was commissioned by Governor

John Letcher John Letcher (March 29, 1813January 26, 1884) was an American lawyer, journalist, and politician. He served as a Representative in the United States Congress, was the 34th Governor of Virginia during the American Civil War, and later served in ...

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

of the Fourth Virginia Cavalry in September 1861. On May 4, 1862, he incurred a severe

saber A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

wound during a cavalry charge at the

Battle of Williamsburg The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the first pitc ...

and was captured while recovering at Hickory Hill, but quickly paroled. In August 1862, Wickham received a promotion to

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 ...

of the Fourth Virginia Cavalry. At the

Battle of Sharpsburg The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...

, he was wounded again, this time in the neck by a shell fragment. Recovering, he participated in the battles of Chancellorsville and Brandy Station and the Gettysburg Campaign. General

Wade Hampton Wade Hampton may refer to the following people: People *Wade Hampton I (1752–1835), American soldier in Revolutionary War and War of 1812 and U.S. congressman *Wade Hampton II (1791–1858), American plantation owner and soldier in War of 1812 *W ...

blamed the failures of Wickham's Fourth Virginia Cavalry at Brandy Station in June 1863 for the death of his brother, Lt. Col. Frank Hampton. Despite Hampton's enmity, following the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

, Wickham was promoted to

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 ...

on September 9, 1863, and put in command of what became known as Wickham's brigade of

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 ...

's division. On May 11, 1864, he fought at the

Battle of Yellow Tavern The Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on May 11, 1864, as part of the Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan was detached from Grant’s Army of the Potomac to conduct a raid on Richmond, ...

. Maj. Gen.

J.E.B. Stuart James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (February 6, 1833May 12, 1864) was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials of ...

was mortally wounded during this engagement, with his final order being: "Order Wickham to dismount his brigade and attack." In September 1864, after the Confederate defeat at the

Battle of Fisher's Hill The Battle of Fisher's Hill was fought September 21–22, 1864, near Strasburg, Virginia, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War. Despite its strong defensive position, the Confederate States Army, Confederate ...

, Wickham blocked at Milford an attempt by Maj. Gen.

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

to encircle and destroy the Confederate forces of Maj. Gen.

Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his U.S. Army commissio ...

. Wickham then attacked the Federal cavalry at Waynesboro and forced them to retreat to Bridgewater. Wickham resigned his commission on October 5, 1864, and took his seat in the

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 ...

, to which he had been elected while in the field. Recognizing that the days of the Confederacy were over, he participated in the

Hampton Roads Conference The Hampton Roads Conference was a peace conference held between the United States and representatives of the unrecognized breakaway Confederate States on February 3, 1865, aboard the steamboat ''River Queen'' in Hampton Roads, Virginia, to discus ...

in an attempt to bring an early end to the war.

Postbellum activities

After the Confederacy surrendered, Wickham used his family's New York connections to reorganize Virginia's economy, which had been ruined by the war. He ultimately became a

and voted in 1872 for General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

as a member of the Electoral College from Virginia. In November 1865, Wickham became president of the

, which had been one of the most heavily damaged during the War. In 1868, the Virginia Central merged with the

Covington and Ohio Railroad Covington and Ohio Railroad was part of a planned railroad link between Eastern Virginia and the Ohio River in the 1850s. The mountainous region of the Allegheny Front (eastern side) of the Appalachian Plateau between an existing canal, railroads ...

to form the new Chesapeake and Ohio, and Wickham became the new company's president. He worked to complete a railroad line to the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, long a dream of Virginians. However, unlike fellow Confederate officer and railroad leader

William Mahone William Mahone (December 1, 1826October 8, 1895) was an American civil engineer, railroad executive, Confederate States Army general, and Virginia politician. As a young man, Mahone was prominent in the building of Virginia's roads and railroa ...

, Wickham was initially unable to secure capital or financing in Virginia, or from Europeans. Turning to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Wickham worked with an investment group headed by

Collis P. Huntington Collis Potter Huntington (October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) was an American industrialist and railway magnate. He was one of the Big Four of western railroading (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who invested ...

. Fresh from recent completion of the western portion of the U.S.

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

as a member of the so-called "Big Four", Huntington became the C&O's new president. His contacts and reputation helped obtain $15 million of funding from New York financiers for the project, which eventually cost $23 million to complete. The final spike ceremony for the long line from Richmond to the Ohio River was held on January 29, 1873 at Hawk's Nest railroad bridge in the

New River Valley The New River Valley is a region along the New River in Southwest Virginia in the United States. It is usually defined as the counties of Montgomery (including the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg), Pulaski, Floyd, and Giles and the ...

, near the town of

Ansted The Ansted was an American automobile; successor to the Lexington and the Ansted-Lexington, it was manufactured from 1926 to 1927. Following the sale of the Lexington plant in Connersville, Indiana Connersville is a city in Fayette Cou ...

Fayette County, West Virginia Fayette County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,488. Its county seat is Fayetteville. It is part of the Beckley, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area in Southern West Virginia. Histor ...

. After Huntington assumed the presidency, Wickham remained with the C&O as vice-president from 1869 to 1878, when the company went into foreclosure following a national panic, with Wickham as receiver. In 1878 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad was reorganized as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, with Collis P. Huntington assuming the office of President of the reorganized road; Wickham became second vice-president. Under their leadership, an additional line was extended east from Richmond through the new

Church Hill Tunnel Church Hill Tunnel is an old Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) tunnel, built in the early 1870s, which extends approximately under the Church Hill district of Richmond, Virginia, United States. On October 2, 1925, the tunnel collapsed on a wor ...

and down the

Virginia Peninsula The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the ''Lower Peninsula'' to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the ...

through Williamsburg to reach

coal pier A coal pier is a transloading facility designed for the transfer of coal between rail and ship. The typical facility for loading ships consists of a holding area and a system of conveyors for transferring the coal to dockside and loading it into t ...

s located on the harbor

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

, the East Coast of the United States' largest

ice-free port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

at the small unincorporated town of

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

in Warwick County. Before the war, the

Gosport Shipyard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a United States Navy, U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the ...

in Portsmouth had served the U.S. Navy, and then the Confederate Navy until Federal forces gained control of the Hampton Roads area, so skilled labor was available. During the ten years from 1878 to 1888, the C&O also developed coal resources in the Appalachians and shipped them eastward. Coal became a staple of the C&O's business at that time, and still was over 125 years later under successor

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

. Huntington developed his holdings in Newport News, founding the

Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

and helped the small community become one of only two in Virginia to become an

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

without first having been an

incorporated town An incorporated town is a town that is a municipal corporation. Canada Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government. United Kingdom United States An in ...

. In modern times, Newport News, which merged with the former Warwick County in 1958, has grown to become one of the major cities of

. Throughout the years after the Civil War, while developing railroads (and remaining an officer of the C&O), Wickham continued active in politics. He maintained an office in Richmond even while officially residing in Hanover County. He was elected chairman of the

Hanover County, Virginia Hanover County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 109,979. Its county seat is Hanover Courthouse. Hanover County is a part of the Greater Richmond Region. History Located in the wester ...

, Board of Supervisors in 1871. In 1883, Hanover County voters (this time together with Caroline County voters) again elected as Wickham to the Virginia Senate (still a part-time position), and re-elected him in 1887. Williams Wickham statue

Death and legacy

Wickham died of heart failure on July 23, 1888, at his Richmond office, and was interred in Hickory Hill Cemetery in Hanover County near Ashland. The general's comrades and C&O employees gave a

statue of Williams Carter Wickham The statue of the Confederate States of America cavalry general Williams Carter Wickham by Edward Virginius Valentine was installed in Richmond, Virginia's Monroe Park in 1891, near Virginia Commonwealth University's main campus. It was toppled in ...

to the City of Richmond in 1891, which was placed in

Monroe Park Monroe Park is a landscaped park northwest of the Virginia State Capitol Building in Richmond, Virginia. It is named after James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825). The park unofficially demarcates the eastern point ...

. Two of the general's descendants, who do not represent the entire family, called for the statue's removal in the aftermath of Charlottesville, Virginia's 2017

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, ...

, and participants in 2020's

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

defaced and toppled the statue from its pedestal.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wickham, Williams C. 1820 births 1888 deaths 19th-century American railroad executives Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Confederate States Army generals Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Virginia University of Virginia alumni Virginia lawyers Virginia Secession Delegates of 1861 19th-century American politicians Politicians from Richmond, Virginia People from Hanover County, Virginia Lawyers from Richmond, Virginia Deaths from organ failure 19th-century American lawyers