Louis Wigfall

Louis Wigfall
Confederate States Senator
from Texas
In office
February 18, 1862 – May 10, 1865
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
from Texas
In office
February 4, 1861 – February 17, 1862
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
United States Senator
from Texas
In office
December 5, 1859 – March 23, 1861
Preceded byMatthias Ward
Succeeded byJames Flanagan (1870)
Member of the Texas Senate
from the 8th district
In office
November 7, 1857 – December 7, 1859
Preceded byWilliam Scott
Succeeded byE. A. Blanch
Personal details
Born
Louis Trezevant Wigfall

(1816-04-21)April 21, 1816
Edgefield, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedFebruary 18, 1874(1874-02-18) (aged 57)
Galveston, Texas, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Charlotte Cross
(m. 1841)
Children3
EducationUniversity of Virginia
University of South Carolina (BA)
Military service
AllegianceConfederate States
Branch/serviceConfederate States Army
Years of service1861–1862
RankBrigadier general
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Louis Trezevant Wigfall (April 21, 1816 – February 18, 1874) was an American politician who served as a Confederate States Senator from Texas from 1862 to 1865.[1] He was among a group of leading secessionists known as Fire-Eaters, advocating the preservation and expansion of an aristocratic agricultural society based on slave labor. He briefly served as a Confederate Brigadier General of the Texas Brigade at the outset of the American Civil War before taking his seat in the Confederate Senate. Wigfall's reputation for oratory and hard-drinking, along with a combative nature and high-minded sense of personal honor, made him one of the more imposing political figures of his time. He was also an enslaver.[2][3]

  1. ^ "Bioguide Search". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  2. ^ Weil, Julie Zauzmer; Blanco, Adrian; Dominguez, Leo. "More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation". Washington Post. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  3. ^ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, January 27, 2022, retrieved January 29, 2022