The New Student's Reference Work/Wise, Henry Alexander

Wise, Henry Alexander, an American statesman, was born at Drummondtown, Va., Dec. 3, 1806. He graduated at Washington College, Pennsylvania, and studied law. He became prominent in politics, advocating the nomination of Jackson at Baltimore and favoring the doctrine of states' rights. He was sent to Congress in 1833, where he went over to the Whig party, in opposition to Jackson's course. Under Tyler, whose nomination Wise had secured, he had a strong influence and was made minister to Brazil, In 1854 he became governor of Virginia. In December, 1859, he signed the death-warrant of John Brown (q. v.). Though making an effort for peace as a member of the Virginia convention, he went with his state into secession, and became a brigadier-general in the Confederate army. He served in the Kanawha valley and at Roanoke Island. Here his forces were captured and his son was killed. He wrote Seven Decades of the Union. He died at Richmond, Va., Sept. 12, 1876.