Francis T. Nicholls

Francis Nicholls was born on August 20, 1834, in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, the seventh son of Thomas Clark Nicholls (himself a seventh son) and Louisa Hannah Nicholls. His father was a district judge and a veteran of the War of 1812, and his mother was the sister of the poet Joseph Rodman Drake and sister-in-law of Francis Redding Tillou. His paternal grandfather was Edward Church Nicholls, a Cornish immigrant to America. He was educated at Jefferson Academy in New Orleans. He was commissioned as a Brevet 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and deployed to Florida, being attached to the Second Regiment of Artillery. Most of the Second Regiment was stationed at Fort Myers, situated along the Caloosahatchee River, but Nicholls along with 11 other soldiers were sent to a smaller outpost called Fort Deynaud where he remained for several months. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the Second Regiment and sent to Fort Yuma in California for frontier duty. Citing illness and lack of action, Nicholls resigned from the Army on Oct 1, 1856. Returning to Louisiana, Nicholls pursued a legal career and studied law at the University of Louisiana but did not graduate. He was admitted to the bar and joined the law office of his older brother Lawrence in Napoleonville. In 1860, Nicholls married Caroline Zilpha Guion, the daughter of a prominent sugar planter and jurist in Lafourche Parish. The couple had one son and five daughters. He owned five slaves. ==Civil War==

Nicholls initially opposed the idea of secession, but after the Louisiana Secession Convention voted in favor of leaving The Union and later joined the Confederate States, he volunteered for military service. He and his brother Lawrence formed an infantry company from volunteers in Ascension Parish named The Phoenix Guards. The company was made part of the 8th Louisiana Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Henry B. Kelly with Nicholls being made Lieutenant Colonel. He trained the regiment and gained a reputation as a stern drill master and disciplinarian. The 8th Louisiana was deployed to Virginia and put on guard duty during the Battle of Bull Run. The regiment was then put under the command of General Richard Taylor. In Spring 1862, Nicholls and his regiment participated in the Valley Campaign of General Stonewall Jackson. Jackson sought to capture the town of Winchester from Union troops and on May 25 ordered Taylor to take a ridge which was heavily defended. As Taylors brigade reached halfway up the ridge a Union cavalry charged attacked their left flank, which was occupied by the 8th Louisiana. Nicholls was ordered to withhold slightly, and they were able to repulse the cavalry charge. While perusing the enemy, Nicholls had to cross two stone fences which exposed him to heavy fire, and he was shot in the left arm which shattered his elbow. After the Confederates took the town, Nicholls was left behind to recover as his injuries required that his left arm be amputated. After Jackson led his troops to continue the campaign, Union forces reentered Winchester and Nicholls was taken prisoner but later released in a prisoner exchange on September 21, 1862. While on leave for a period of four months, Nicholls was promoted to Colonel and then to Brigadier General and given command of 2nd Louisiana Brigade. He was ordered to report to General Robert E. Lee then stationed in Fredericksburg, Virginia. When the Army of the Potomac under the command of Joseph Hooker launched a campaign to push Lee out of Fredericksburg, Nicholls was ordered to participate in a flanking maneuver to attack Hooker's right at Chancellorsville. While leading his brigade and attempting to clear obstacles in their path, Nicholls positions came under artillery fire. A shell cut through his horses' stomach, came out the other end, and severed his left foot. After being evacuated to the rear by his men, Nicholls retired from field command for the remainder of the war. After a second convalesce leave, Nicholls was given administrative duties and named the Commandant of the Military District of Lynchburg, Virginia on August 11, 1863. Lynchburg, located west of Richmond, was an important railroad junction for supply routes. He was relieved of command in the summer of 1864 and transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department in Marshall, Texas. He remained here 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 [the war for secession] under 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." ==Political career==

Nicholls returned to his law practice after the war and became involved in Louisiana politics. He became a conservative Democrat and joined The Boston Club of New Orleans, an exclusive men's club. Becoming a prominent political figure due in part to his military record, Nicholls was selected as the Democratic candidate for the 1876 Louisiana Gubernatorial Election. The results of the election were disputed with both Nicholls and Republican candidate Stephen B. Packard claiming victory. Nicholls garnered a majority of 8,000 votes, but the Republican-controlled State Returning Board cited irregularities and declared Packard the winner. On January 8, 1877, Packard was sworn in as Governor at St. Louis Hotel while Nicholls was sworn in as Governor at St. Patrick's Hall and for a period of several months, the state had two governors. Armed militia groups for both sides formed and in his inaugural address, Nicholls called on his supporters to remain peaceful. The day after his inauguration, Nicholls also called on the Metropolitan Police to keep the peace and previous Governor William Kellog telegraphed President Grant requesting him to deploy federal troops to New Orleans which he refused to do. As part of the Compromise of 1877 to resolve the disputed Presidential election of 1876, Republicans agreed to recognize Nicholls as the winner as part of a deal in which Democrats recognized Rutherford Hayes as President. 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, the seat of Lafourche Parish. 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 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 high school, Francis T. Nicholls High School, was opened at 3820 St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans. In the late 1990s the high school was renamed for former slave and abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass. It is now a charter school, part of the KIPP Family Schools and known as KIPP Renaissance High School. During the 1960s, the school was integrated and black students fought to change the team names from The Rebels and the mascot from the Confederate flag to the current Bobcat. There is a "Governor Nicholls Street" in New Orleans. Where it meets the Mississippi River near the downriver end of the French Quarter, there is a Governor Nicholls Street Wharf. Atop the wharf shed there, the United States Coast Guard built a manned control tower with a red and green traffic signal to control vessel traffic rounding Algiers Point. When speaking to the controller via marine VHF radio, mariners address him or her familiarly as "Governor Nick." In Baton Rouge, there is a sculpture of Nicholls by Isidore Konti. Nicholls State University, founded in 1948, is a public university located in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Nicholls is part of the University of Louisiana System. 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. == References ==