James Monroe Wells

James Monroe Wells (1837–1918) was an author, Union Army officer, and politician. He wrote The Chisolm Massacre; A picture of "home rule" in Mississippi about the Chisolm Massacre. James Daniel Lynch responded with an account blaming Radical Republicans titled Kemper County Vindicated, And a Peep at Radical Rule in Mississippi. Wells served as a state senator in Idaho.[1]

Lucinda D. Wells and Samuel Percival Wells were his parents.[2] Wells was born in Erie County, New York and moved to Michigan with his family at age two. He grew up on a farm.[3] He studied at Kalamazoo College, and became a teacher. He served in the Union Army as a cavalry officer. He was twice captured.[2] He and others escaped through a tunnel from Libby Prison.[3] He married Delphene Bartholomew in 1866.[2]

View of Andersonville National Cemetery from his autobiography With Touch of Elbow

He came to Mississippi in 1868 for a Federal revenue position and was a Republican leader in Kemper County, Mississippi.[2] He moved to Idaho in 1884 and served as a state senator in its first legislature.[3] His autobiography titled With Touch of Elbow was published in 1909.[2]

  1. ^ "Congressional Record: Containing the Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress". U.S. Government Printing Office. May 4, 1892 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b c d e Lloyd, James B. (1981). Lives of Mississippi Authors, 1817–1967. University of Mississippi Press. p. 458. ISBN 9781617034183.
  3. ^ a b c Campbell, James B. (May 4, 1894). "Campbell's Illustrated History of the World's Columbian Exposition". Carothers Pub. – via Google Books.