The Biographical Dictionary of America/Bailey, William H.

BAILEY, William H., lawyer, was born in North Carolina, Jan. 22, 1831. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1852, and in 1856 was elected attorney-general of North Carolina. In connection with his practice, he taught a law school, until the breaking out of the civil war, when he joined the Confederate army, and was present at the battle of Great Bethel Church. Va., which he claims, as the first Confederate victory, had more effect in prolonging hostilities than any other event. During the war he was acting assistant adjutant-general, judge advocate, and was also appointed receiver under the Confederate government. He was county solicitor at different periods of his life. In 1882 he was elected a representative to the legislature of North Carolina and served as chairman of the judiciary committee. He was also one of the code commissioners of the state. He removed late in life to Houston, Texas, where his son edited the Houston Daily Herald. The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Rutherford college, N. C. Mr. Bailey gained a local fame as a humorist in verse. He also wrote several law-books. "The Conflict of Judicial Decisions"; "Onus Probandi"; " Self-Taught Law"; and "The Detective Faculty," and edited "The Fifth North Carolina Digest," and many articles legal, historical, and biographical for the magazines and newspapers.