Gov. Francis W. Pickens, US Congress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_W._Pickens

Francis Wilkinson Pickens (April 7, 1805 – January 25, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 69th Governor of South Carolina when the state seceded from the United States during the American Civil War. He ordered the first shot of the Civil War be fired in Charleston, South Carolina.

Francis Pickens was born in Togadoo, St Paul's Parish, in Colleton County, South Carolina. He was the son of former Gov. Andrew Pickens and a grandson of Gen. Andrew Pickens, an American Revolutionary War soldier who fought at the Battle of Cowpens and a U.S. Congressman. A cousin of his grandmother was South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun. His son-in-law was Confederate General and U.S. Senator Matthew C. Butler, a son of congressman William Butler (1790-1850); grandson of congressman William Butler and a nephew of Senator Andrew Butler.

Pickens was educated at Franklin College (now a part of the University of Georgia) in Athens, Georgia, and at South Carolina College in Columbia. He was admitted to the bar in 1829, the same year that he constructed "Edgewood," a mansion in Edgefield. He joined the Democratic Party and served in the South Carolina house of representatives from 1832–34, where he was an ardent supporter of nullification. As chairman of a sub-committee, he submitted a report denying the right of Congress to exercise any control over the States.

Pickens served in Congress as a representative from South Carolina from 1834 until 1843 (5th District 1834–37; 6th District 1837–39; 5th District 1839–41; 6th District 1841–43). He was a member of the South Carolina State Senate from 1844 until 1846. He was offered the position of Minister to England by President James K. Polk, and the Minister to France by President John Tyler, but declined these diplomatic posts. He served as a delegate to the Nashville Southern Convention in 1850. Twice a widower, he married Lucy Petway Holcombe (1832–1899) on April 26, 1856 and in 1858 had daughter Douschka Pickens. Under President James Buchanan, Pickens was Minister to Russia from 1858–1860, where he and his wife were befriended by Czar Alexander II.

Civil War

Under his administration as Governor of South Carolina (1860–1862), the State seceded and demanded the surrender of the Federal forts in Charleston harbor. He strongly advocated the secession of the Southern States but he did not sign the South Carolina ordinance of secession, as is commonly reported. He protested against Major Robert Anderson's removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and offered to acquire the fort from the United States as part of an equitable settlement of the assets and debts of what Pickens considered to be now-dissolved federal union. On January 9, 1861, Governor Pickens sanctioned the firing upon the relief steamship Star of the West, which was bringing supplies to Anderson's beleaguered garrison. He also approved of the subsequent bombardment of Fort Sumter. He remained a fervent supporter of states rights.

Pickens died in Edgefield, South Carolina in1869, and was buried at Willow Brook Cemetery in Edgefield.

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Francis W. Pickens (1805-1869). S Francis Pickens came to Edgefield in 1828 to practice law with his father-in-law, Eldred Simkins. Pickens served in the United States House of Representatives from 1834 to 1843 and in the South Carolina Senate from 1844 to 1845. Active in national Democratic circles, Pickens was offered ambassadorships to England and France, but chose not to accept them. After marrying the beautiful Lucy Holcombe of Texas in 1858 he accepted President Buchanan’s offer to become ambassador to Russia. In 1860 he resigned this post and returned to South Carolina where he was elected Governor, serving in that role until 1862, where he faced the challenges of the Civil War. Pickens was a wealthy planter who dispensed broad hospitality at Edgewood Plantation, the best known of the antebellum plantations of the Edgefield District.

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HON. FRANCIS W. PICKENS, GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

HON. JUDGE MAGRATH, SECRETARY OF STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

GOVERNOR PICKENS, OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

WE publish herewith a portrait of Governor Pickens, the newly-elected Governor of the State of South Carolina.

Governor Pickens comes of good revolutionary stock. His grandfather, General Pickens, commanded the American forces at the Battle of the Cowpens. His father, Colonel Pickens, held a military command in the war of 1812, though it is not known that he was ever engaged in active service. The present Governor, Francis W. Pickens, was born in South Carolina about fifty years ago, and has been some twenty years in public life.

He took an active part in the nullification movement in 1832, and was one of the most ardent champions of actual resistance by arms. In 1835 he was sent to Congress, where he represented one of the South Carolina districts for ten years. He was offered the mission to England by President Polk, and the mission to France by President Tyler: he declined these, but accepted from President Buchanan the mission to Russia, which he filled until recently. On his return home he was elected, as the world knows, first Governor of the independent State of South Carolina.

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/major-anderson-ft-sumter...

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Francis Wilkinson Pickens (April 7, 1805 – January 25, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 69th Governor of South Carolina when the state seceded from the United States during the American Civil War.

Early life and career

Pickens was born in Togadoo, St Paul's Parish, in Colleton County, South Carolina. He was the son of former Gov. Andrew Pickens and a grandson of Gen. Andrew Pickens, an American Revolutionary soldier at the Battle of Cowpens and former U.S. Congressman. A cousin of his grandmother was South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun. His son-in-law was Confederate General and U.S. Senator Matthew C. Butler, a son of congressman William Butler (1790-1850); grandson of congressman William Butler and a nephew of Senator Andrew Butler.

Pickens was educated at Franklin College (now a part of the University of Georgia) in Athens, Georgia, and at South Carolina College in Columbia. He was admitted to the bar in 1829, the same year that he constructed "Edgewood," a mansion in Edgefield. He joined the Democratic Party and served in the South Carolina house of representatives from 1832–34, where he was an ardent supporter of nullification. As chairman of a sub-committee, he submitted a report denying the right of Congress to exercise any control over the states.

Pickens served in Congress as a representative from South Carolina from 1834 until 1843 (5th District 1834–37; 6th District 1837–39; 5th District 1839–41; 6th District 1841–43). He was a member of the South Carolina state senate from 1844 until 1846. He was offered the position of Minister to England by President James K. Polk, and the Minister to France by President John Tyler, but declined these diplomatic posts. He served as a delegate to the Nashville Southern Convention in 1850. Twice a widower, he married Lucy Petway Holcombe (1832–1899) on April 26, 1856 and in 1858 had Douschka Pickens. Under President James Buchanan, Pickens was Minister to Russia from 1858–1860, where he and his wife were befriended by Czar Alexander II.

American Civil War

Under his administration as Governor of South Carolina (1860–1862), the state seceded and demanded the surrender of the Federal forts in Charleston harbor. He strongly advocated the secession of the Southern states but he did not sign the South Carolina ordinance of secession, as is commonly reported. He protested against Major Robert Anderson's removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and offered to acquire the fort from the United States as part of an equitable settlement of the assets and debts of what Pickens considered to be now-dissolved federal union.[citation needed] On January 9, 1861, Governor Pickens sanctioned the firing upon the relief steamship Star of the West, which was bringing supplies to Anderson's beleaguered garrison. He also approved of the subsequent bombardment of Fort Sumter. He remained a fervent supporter of states rights.

Later life

Pickens died in Edgefield, South Carolina, and was buried at Willow Brook Cemetery in Edgefield.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Wilkinson_Pickens

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Wilkinson_Pickens

Francis Wilkinson Pickens (April 7, 1805 – January 25, 1869) was Governor of South Carolina when that state became the first to secede from the U.S.A.

A cousin of Senator John C. Calhoun, Pickens was born into the culture of States Rights, and became an ardent supporter of nullification (refusal to pay federal import tariffs) when he served in the South Carolina house of representatives, before being elected to Congress and then the state senate.

As state governor during the Fort Sumter crisis, he sanctioned the firing on the ship bringing supplies to the beleaguered Union garrison, and to the bombardment of the fort. After the war, it was Pickens who introduced the motion to repeal South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession, a short speech received in silence, in notable contrast with the rejoicing that had first greeted the Ordinance.

Pickens was born in Togadoo, St Paul's Parish, in Colleton County, South Carolina.[1] He was the son of former Gov. Andrew Pickens and a grandson of Gen. Andrew Pickens, an American Revolutionary soldier at the Battle of Cowpens and former U.S. Congressman. His mother was Susannah Smith Wilkinson. A cousin of his grandmother was South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun. He was also a cousin of Floride Calhoun, Calhoun's wife and a niece of his grandfather. His son-in-law was Confederate General and U.S. Senator Matthew C. Butler, a son of congressman William Butler (1790-1850); grandson of congressman William Butler and a nephew of Senator Andrew Butler.

Pickens was educated at Franklin College (now a part of the University of Georgia) in Athens, Georgia, and at South Carolina College in Columbia.[1] He was admitted to the bar in 1829, the same year that he constructed "Edgewood," a mansion in Edgefield. He joined the Democratic Party and served in the South Carolina house of representatives from 1832–34, where he was an ardent supporter of nullification. As chairman of a sub-committee, he submitted a report denying the right of Congress to exercise any control over the states.

Pickens served in Congress as a representative from South Carolina from 1834 until 1843. He was a member of the South Carolina state senate from 1844 until 1846. He was offered the position of Minister to England by President James K. Polk, and the Minister to France by President John Tyler, but declined these diplomatic posts. He served as a delegate to the Nashville Convention in 1850. Twice a widower, he married Lucy Petway Holcombe (1832–1899) on April 26, 1856, and in 1859 she gave birth to Douschka Pickens. Under President James Buchanan, Pickens was Minister to Russia from 1858–1860, where he and his wife were befriended by Czar Alexander II. American Civil War Governor-elect Francis W. Pickens in 1860 (from Harper's Weekly)

Under his administration as Governor of South Carolina (1860–1862), the state seceded and demanded the surrender of the Federal forts in Charleston harbor. He strongly advocated the secession of the Southern states but he did not sign the South Carolina ordinance of secession, as is commonly reported. He protested against Major Robert Anderson's removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and offered to acquire the fort from the United States as part of an equitable settlement of the assets and debts of what Pickens considered to be now-dissolved federal union.[citation needed] On January 9, 1861, Governor Pickens sanctioned the firing upon the relief steamship Star of the West, which was bringing supplies to Anderson's beleaguered garrison. He also approved of the subsequent bombardment of Fort Sumter. He remained a fervent supporter of states rights. Later life

Pickens was a member of the South Carolina constitutional convention called in September 1865 shortly after the end of the Civil War. He was one of more than 100 representatives from around the state, many of them drawn from the cream of South Carolina society.[citation needed] During the convention, Pickens introduced a motion to repeal the Ordinance of Secession. It was almost breathtakingly brief, according to proceedings recorded by the Charleston Courier:

"We, the Delegates of the People of the State of South Carolina, in General Convention met, do Ordain: That the ordinance passed in convention, 20th of December, 1860, withdrawing this State from the Federal Union, be and the same is hereby repealed."[2]

According to the New York Times: “The passage was received in silence – strikingly suggestive when one remembered with what dramatic applause the ordinance of secession was proclaimed passed.”[3]

The motion passed by a vote of 105-3 with the only dissenting votes coming from three delegates from the Barnwell District: A.P. Aldrich, J.J. Brabham and J.M. Whetstone. Pickens counseled against inaction, according to historian Francis Butler Simkins.

“It doesn’t become South Carolina to vapor or swell or strut or brag or bluster or threat or swagger,” Pickens said. ” ... She bids us bind up her wounds and pour on the oil of peace.”[4]

Pickens died in Edgefield, South Carolina, and was buried at Willow Brook Cemetery in Edgefield.

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https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/pickens-francis-wilkinson/

Congressman, diplomat, governor. Born on April 7, 1807, in St. Paul’s Parish, Pickens was the son of Governor Andrew Pickens, Jr., and Susan Smith Wilkinson. Reared among his father’s extensive landholdings in South Carolina and Alabama, Pickens attended Franklin College in Georgia before entering South Carolina College as a sophomore. He was active at the latter in the Clariosophic Society and was known for his oratory skills. He left college in 1827 without graduating following a student revolt over compulsory mess attendance. On October 18, 1827, he married Margaret Eliza Simkins. After reading law with her father, Eldred Simkins, Pickens was admitted to the bar on December 2, 1828. Pickens amassed considerable property, including land in South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi, as well as a sizable number of slaves. The 1860 census lists him as the owner of $45,400 in real estate and $244,206 in personal property, including 276 slaves. Although heavily encumbered with debts, he still had considerable landholdings at the time of his death. Pickens’s first wife died on August 12, 1842. He was married on January 9, 1845, to Marion Antoinette Dearing, and that marriage lasted until her death on August 14, 1853. On April 26, 1858, he married Lucy Petway Holcombe of Texas. His three marriages produced nine children.

Pickens’s public career began in college when he authored a series of articles in the Charleston Mercury espousing state sovereignty and questioning the legality of a protective tariff. Later articles in the Columbia and Edgefield newspapers marked Pickens as a leading proponent of nullification. From 1832 to 1833 he represented Edgefield District in the General Assembly. He rose quickly to chair the committees on federal relations and the judiciary, playing an instrumental role in the passage of the test oath law. He was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the state militia and helped raise volunteers to defend against threatened federal military coercion.

Elected to fill the unexpired term of George McDuffie in the U.S. House of Representatives, Pickens took his seat in the Twenty-third Congress on December 8, 1834. He was a strong supporter of slavery, states’ rights, and an independent national treasury. He was an ally and confidant of John C. Calhoun, with whom he had close family ties. He often served as Calhoun’s chief lieutenant in the House, although the rise of rivals for Calhoun’s favor led to a troubled relationship by the latter part of the decade. In 1839 Pickens’s bid to be elected Speaker of the U.S. House was thwarted by his rivals in the South Carolina delegation, Robert B. Rhett and Franklin Elmore. The sectional bickering in the House led him not to seek reelection in 1842. He declined an appointment as minister to France, but he assisted Calhoun’s unsuccessful attempt at the presidency in 1844 and was active at both the state and national Democratic conventions. Elected to the state Senate in the fall of 1844, he also harbored hopes of a U.S. Senate seat. In 1845 he again refused a diplomatic appointment, this time to Great Britain. He retired to Edgefield after serving one term in the state Senate.

Pickens attended the 1850 Southern Rights Convention in Nashville and advocated southern unity as the only means of stopping northern agitation over slavery. The failure of southern cooperation pushed him toward the radical position of separate state action. He lost a close vote for governor in December 1850 but was elected to the state convention held in 1852 to consider secession.

The state had swung toward a more conservative position, and he lost subsequent bids for the U.S. Senate and for his old seat in the House. He renewed his activities with the national Democratic Party, which he now considered the best hope of preserving the southern cause within the Union. He attended the 1856 Democratic convention in Cincinnati and actively campaigned for James Buchanan, who, after his election as president, offered Pickens the position of minister to Russia. Although he initially declined, Pickens accepted the post after he lost a race for the Senate in 1857, and he sailed for St. Petersburg on May 28, 1858. Aware that he was being considered as a compromise presidential candidate and with a complaining wife and the growing political crisis, Pickens resigned his post on April 17, 1860. However, it was early November before he returned to the United States. He entered the contest for governor and prevailed after close balloting on December 16, 1860.

South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860, placing Pickens in a difficult situation. Under intense local pressure to dislodge the Federal military presence in Charleston harbor despite the lack of military preparedness, Pickens adopted a cautious approach that sought a negotiated surrender. Except for shots fired on the Star of the West as the ship attempted to resupply Fort Sumter in January, Pickens avoided hostilities. The eventual bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter came after the Confederate government took control of events in the harbor.

Pickens’s administration was dominated by military problems, including raising troops and supplies for defending the coast and assisting the war effort in Virginia. The lack of military resources became apparent when Union forces seized Port Royal Sound in November 1861. Confidence in Pickens’s leadership reached a low point soon thereafter when large parts of Charleston were destroyed by fire. The Secession Convention reacted to these disasters and Pickens’s perceived deficiencies by forming a five-member council to exercise executive authority. Although he was a member of the council, the usurpation of his authority created an antagonistic relationship between Pickens and the members elected by the convention. Conscription, slave impressments, and other measures enacted produced widespread disapproval of the council but increased Pickens’s reputation. The council was abolished in December 1862, shortly after Pickens’s term as governor ended. Pickens retired to his plantation in Edgefield. Aside from participating in the 1865 constitutional convention, he held no other office or political role. He died at his home on January 25, 1869, and was buried at Willowbrook Cemetery in Edgefield County.