Henry Alexander Wise

Henry Alexander Wise 1806-76, American political leader and Confederate general in the Civil War, b. Accomac, Va. A lawyer, he was successively a Jackson Democrat, a Whig, and a Tyler Democrat in Congress (1833-44). He was minister to Brazil from 1844 to 1847. An outspoken defender of slavery, Wise defeated (1855) the Know-Nothing candidate for governor of Virginia by accusing that party of abolitionism, thereby breaking the Know-Nothing movement in the South. One of his last official acts as governor (1856-60) was to sign the death warrant of John Brown. Although he opposed secession, when war broke out he became a Confederate brigadier general, distinguishing himself in the defense of Petersburg against General Grant's first assault (1864) and in the retreat to Appomattox.

Wise, Henry Alexander (1806–1876) Congressman, governor, and Confederate army officer. Born on Virginia's Eastern Shore, Henry Alexander Wise served six terms in Congress and also as minister to Brazil. He was the governor of Virginia when John Brown raided Harpers Ferry, and signed the abolitionist's death warrant. Wise was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate army in June 1861. His lack of military experience showed in his early failures in the Kanawha Valley campaign and at Roanoke Island, but later in the war he did better. He helped save Petersburg from the initial Union assault in June 1864, and performed well the next year on the retreat to Appomattox. After the war he refused to seek a pardon, and often signed his letters “prisoner of war.”