Richmond, September 14th, 1876, and is interred in Hollywood Cemetery. He had issue by his first marriage:

i. Mary Elizabeth, married Dr. A. Y. P. Garnett, a highly successful physician of Washington, D. C., and lately a surgeon in the Confederate States Army.

ii. Obadiah Jennings, lawyer and editor of the Richmond Enquirer; Captain Richmond Light Infantry Blues; died February 8th, 1862, from effects of wounds received at Roanoke Island. iii. Henry Alexander, Clergyman Protestant Episcopal Church; died August, 1868; married Harriet, daughter of Richard Barton Haxall, merchant miller of Richmond, and has issue: Barton. iv. Ann Jennings, married Frederick Plumer Hobson (now deceased), and has issue: John Cannon, Henry Wise.

Issue by the second marriage:

v. Richard Alsop, M. D., Professor of Chemistry, William and Mary College; married a daughter of William F. Peachy; now Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum at Williamsburg, Va. vi. Margaret Ellen, married Wm. C. Mayo, of Richmond, son of Edward

C., and grandson of Col. John Mayo, who built Mayo's bridge across James River, connecting the cities of Richmond and Manchester. vii. John Sergeant, born at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December 25th, 1845; was educated at the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia; lawyer; Lieutenant of Infantry of Confederate States Army; Captain Richmond Light Infantry Blues; late United States District Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, from May, 1882, to March, 1883, and now Congressman at large from Virginia; married Eva Douglas, of Nashville. viii. Spencer Sergeant, died in infancy.

General Wise had no issue by his third marriage.

A county of Virginia was named in honor of Governor Wise. There is a portrait of him in the State Library at Richmond.

JOHN LETCHER.

"Honest John Letcher," whose crest was his immaculate integrity, and whose talisman, duty, shamed in his honored and useful career mere heraldic boast. As nearly as man may of himself alone be the arbiter of his life's own destiny, was he the exemplification of the hackneyed term "self-made." His success is an enduring beacon to aspiring youth, and an assurance of what integrity, industry, and lofty purpose may accomplish in the race of life. His life-springs yield to no personal disparagement in comparison with any class, however favored, and in him they united, it is believed, the several races of justly termed Great Britain. His father, William Letcher, was a scion of a hardy Welsh

man early seated in the colony. His mother was of that staunch and sterling Scotch-Irish yeoman stock of the Valley of Virginia, which has supplied the armies and filled the councils of our nation and extended its Western empire. She was a Houston, and a near relative of the unflinching hero of San Jacinto. John Letcher was born in Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia, March 29th, 1813. His parents possessed scarce more of this world's goods than the "cotter's content as sung by their national poet. Young Letcher commenced life with the necessity of toil staring him in the face, but with a resistless craving of the intellect. His home was within the shadow of one of our most beneficent seats of learning-now the hallowed Washington and Lee University-and his earliest associations were with students. Yet that which circumstance gave them could only be his by incessant toil. But the lofty goal of education was ever before him, and with a strong heart and unflagging purpose he grappled with and overcame all obstacles. At the age of fifteen we find him working at the trade of a tailor-whence, it must not be forgotten, also issued a recent Executive of our nation-but devoting every leisure moment to study. Unceasing labor brought him limited means, and soon after his majority he entered Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, where he acquired the foundation of a classical education. He subsequently attended Randolph Macon College. His penchant was, however, for law, and upon leaving college in 1836, he commenced its study in the office of the late Hon. William Taylor. Here he remained for three years, and in 1839 was licensed to practice. Whilst diligent in acquiring professional lore, he had not been neglectful of other branches of learning, but had applied himself also to classic and general attainment as well, always keeping in view the aphorism, "Knowledge is power." He commenced his professional career in his native town, and was for years intimately associated with his late legal instructor, Mr. Taylor, and with Governor James McDowell, whose encouragement, sympathy and friendship in his early years of struggle he ever gratefully cherished. The ability and fidelity of the young practitioner immediately insured him success even amid competition with eminent talents, among whom may be named Briscoe G. Baldwin, Thomas J. Michie, John W. Brockenbrough, A. H. H. Stuart, and others whose names are household words in Virginia. Whilst pursuing his legal studies, he was a frequent contributor to the old Richmond Enquirer, the Fincastle Democrat, and other newspapers the exponents of the Democratic party, with which he affiliated. In 1839 Mr. Letcher established at Lexington the Valley Star, and edited it with ability until 1840, in the advocacy of Democratic principles and the cause of education. At the bar he rose rapidly; a retentive memory, clear mental powers of analysis, and a habit of observation enabling him to comprehensively grasp the relations of his profession to real life as well as the issues of the

day. It is easily to be apprehended that he soon became prominent in the political area as a public debater and canvasser. In the contest of 1840 he was present in the most heated encounters, traversing the entire Valley of Virginia, meeting the strongest intellects of the period, and meriting and receiving the warmest recognition alike from friend or foe. It was during this tour, whilst speaking in New Market, Augusta County, that an attractive face in a coquettish blue bonnet, among his auditors, so held him captive that a few years later witnessed the consummation of a life union of unalloyed marital content with its fair possessor-Miss Susan Holt. Plain, practical and frank of speech on the stump, as in private life, John Letcher seldom failed to carry conviction to his auditors, and he always commanded the respect even of his political opponents. In 1844 he resumed editorial control of the Valley Star, and was conspicuous for his zeal in the advocacy of the interests of Virginia and of the South, with voice as well as with pen. Among the measures which he earnestly pressed was the annexation of Texas, of which Republic his cousin, General Samuel Houston, was the President. In 1848 Mr. Letcher served as Presidential elector on the Democratic ticket, and when the Convention of 1850 was called to remodel the State Constitution, he was returned to that body by a majority of over 1,200, although his district was strongly Whig. His labors in the Convention were alike satisfactory to his constituents of both political parties, and strengthened his reputation for integrity and ability. In 1851 he was elected, without opposition, to Congress, and continued to serve in that body for four successive terms. Here he made a National reputation-one than which no more enviable could public servant possess.

Though others may have been accorded the origination of great measures, his was a moral influence of which few politicians may boast. His political creed was "Strict construction, frugality in public expenditure, honesty in the public servant;" and in very truth he was a jealous guardian of the Constitution-the citadel of American liberty and an uncompromising sentinel, challenging every infraction of the invested rights of the nation. By his rigid adherence to sterling principles and his unswerving fidelity to the interest of the people, he justly earned the proud sobriquet, "Honest John Letcher-the watch-dog of the Treasury," which distinction he righteously maintained throughout life. In 1859, after a spirited contest, John Letcher was elected Governor of Virginia over William L. Goggin, and took his seat January 1st, 1860, at one of the most trying periods in the history of the Commonwealth. Soon the fires of secession were lighted throughout the length and breadth of the Southern land, and popular clamor within and without her borders demanded that Virginia should be hurled into the vortex of disunion. Governor Letcher was inherently

attached to the Union. Calmly, sorrowfully, amid the tempestuous waves of passion and under bitter vituperation, he surveyed the situation, looking into the future with almost prophetic ken, and counselled moderation, forbearance, and conciliation, He loved the Union. sincerely and absorbingly. An incident attendant upon the deliberations of the Convention is characteristically noteworthy. Many hot-blooded politicians, followers of the school of Calhoun, were untiring in their efforts to influence the action of the Convention and control that of Governor Letcher, who by them was regarded with great suspicion. Some of the most intemperate and daring among them threatened to haul down the American flag, which, with that of Virginia, floated over the State Capitol. Against this the will of Letcher interposed, and not until Virginia had severed her bonds with the Union by solemn act of Convention would he suffer the Stars and Stripes to be removed. Then, the issue having come between honor and dishonor; after Virginia had sued for peace and compromise almost on bended knee; when she had thrown herself into the breach and had been insultingly rebuffedthen it was that the lamb became a lion's whelp, and John Letcher raised the rallying cry that echoed and re-echoed throughout the Sunny South. Then it was that his executive ability was pre-eminent and became allsustaining to the people. During nearly three years of the conflict, Governor Letcher controlled the war policy of the State, and was a tower of strength to the Southern Confederacy. His every energy, physical and mental, was devoted to the cause. Never despairing, ever fruitful of resource, quick to determine and equally quick to act. When he spoke, the highest in authority gave respectful ear. His foresight anticipated many an issue that might otherwise have proved disastrous. It was his habit to meet difficulty on the threshold and overcome it there and then, and this served him and the Confederacy in many a critical moment. During the bread riot in Richmond, when the fate of the city trembled in the balance and the Confederate authorities were powerless, it was his decision that averted the impending catastrophe. The threats and entreaties of President Davis and the Secretary of War were whistled down the wind by the overwrought mob, but when the War Governor came to the front, watch in hand, and surrounded by the faithful Public Guard* of the State, commanded by the late Captain Edward S. Gay, and gave the rioters three minutes in which to disperse, they knew that his resolve was fixed and brooked no disobedience. It was

This company, organized in 1801, had its quarters in the old State Armory near the Tredegar Iron Works, and a portion of which, spared by the conflagration of April 3d, 1865, is still standing, a memorial of the past. The Guard, which patrolled the public buildings and grounds at Richmond, used to be jocosely termed the "Standing Army of Virginia," as it was for years the only military body upon State establishment in the Union. It was disbanded by Federal authority in 1867.