Henry S. Foote | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byMathew Bradyc. 1850s | |
| 19th Governor of Mississippi | |
| In office January 10, 1852 – January 5, 1854 | |
| Preceded by | James Whitfield |
| Succeeded by | John J. Pettus |
| United States Senator fromMississippi | |
| In office March 4, 1847 – January 8, 1852 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph W. Chalmers |
| Succeeded by | Walker Brooke |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henry Stuart Foote (1804-02-28)February 28, 1804 |
| Died | May 19, 1880(1880-05-19) (aged 76) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic(before 1850) Union(1850–54) Know-Nothing(1854–56) Republican(after 1875) |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Winters Rachel (Boyd) Smiley |
| Children | 6 |
| Alma mater | Washington College |
| Profession |
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| Signature |  |
Henry Stuart Foote (February 28, 1804 – May 19, 1880) was aUnited States Senator fromMississippi and the chairman of theUnited States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1847 to 1852. He was the UnionistGovernor of Mississippi from 1852 to 1854.
Later when he moved west toCalifornia, he became anAmerican Party (Know Nothingist) supporter of the smaller minority independentthird party) while inCalifornia and nation-wide, while he was living there during the late1850s, theknow Nothings were an anti-immigrant, anti-Roman Catholic movement in American political history, which led to several violent riots during elections innortheastern American big cities in the turbulent violent pre-Civil War era. They were especially strong in theborder state ofMaryland. During its short-lived existence, several of its American Party members / supporters were elected to local, state and national offices, and got their start in political and civic activities.
During theAmerican Civil War (1861-1865), Foote was elected and served in thefirst andsecond sessions of theConfederate Congress as the representative of the 5th District.
A practicingattorney, he published two books of memoirs related to the Civil War years, then a book on the history ofTexas before its1845 annexation by theUnited States, theTexas Revolution of 1836 and brief war afterwards (which led to theMexican-American War of 1846-1848), and its earlier historical / political period of16th to19th centuries in the previousSpanish Empire of theAmericas / colonialViceroyalty ofNew Spain and in subsequent independentMexico after 1821. Plus he also authored a post-war book on the legal profession and courts of justice in theSouthern United States in the19th century.
Henry S. Foote was born on February 28, 1804, inFauquier County, Virginia.[1][2] He was the son of Richard Helm Foote and Catherine (Stuart) Foote. He pursued classical studies in 1819 and graduated from Washington College (nowWashington and Lee University).[1][2] He later studied the law and was admitted to the bar in 1822.[2]
Foote moved toAlabama in 1824, where he began his law practice inTuscumbia.[1][2] He also established a Democratic newspaper.[1][2] He became a co-founder and trustee of LaGrange College, later known as theUniversity of North Alabama. Shortly after, he moved toMississippi, where he practiced law in the state capital,Jackson,[1] and in the river towns ofNatchez,Vicksburg, as well asRaymond (the other seat of Hinds County besides Jackson), which were centers of business associated with the cotton and slave trades.[3] He also visited the state ofTexas and wrote a two-volume book about it,Texas and the Texans (1841)[4]
Foote served as aDemocrat Senator from 1847 to 1851.[1] He was the chairman of theUnited States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.[2] He played a key role in securing theCompromise of 1850.[1] During Senate debates over the Compromise resolutions, Foote savagely denounced Compromise opponentThomas Hart Benton. One day, the burly Benton became so enraged by Foote's verbal attacks that he marched across the Senate floor in a threatening manner. As Benton charged him, Foote "advanced backwards" (as he said later) to the Vice President's bench, and drew a pistol.[5] As other Senators tried to intervene, Benton bellowed "Let the assassin shoot!"[6] However, the other Senators wrestled Foote to the floor, took the gun away, and locked it in a drawer. The incident created an uproar that prompted an investigation by a Senate committee.[5]
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The Compromise was widely criticized in the South by pro-slavery hard-liners such asJefferson Davis (another Mississippi Democrat). Some of these "Fire-Eaters" even called for secession by the slave states. In 1851, Davis ran forGovernor of Mississippi as a "Southern Rights" candidate. Foote was nominated for governor by theUnion Party, a coalition of anti-secession Democrats andWhigs.[1] Footenarrowly defeated Davis. He resigned from the Senate to serve as governor from 1852 to 1854.[1]
Foote resigned five days before the end of his term. He then moved to California.[7] He practiced the law inSan Francisco, and joined theAmerican Party.[1][7] Foote was considered a leading candidate for United States Senate from California, but by the votes of every Democratic state senator, alongside abolitionist American Party state senator,Wilson G. Flint, the office went unfilled. He campaigned for theFillmore–Donelson ticket in the1856 presidential campaign.[7]
On the eve of theCivil War, Foote returned to Vicksburg. In 1859, he was a member of the Southern convention inKnoxville. He moved to Tennessee and settled inNashville, where he was elected to theFirst andSecond Confederate Congresses,[2] representing the5th District (Nashville). As a member of theConfederate House of Representatives, he often harshly criticized the war policies of theConfederate President Jefferson Davis.[2] In one debate, he verbally attacked theConfederate States Secretary of StateJudah P. Benjamin, and expressed virulentantisemitism.[8][9]
Early in 1865, Foote attempted to crossUnion Army lines and travel toWashington, D.C. but was arrested byConfederates before he could do so. The Confederate House of Representatives voted to expel him on January 24, 1865, but the vote failed to garner the necessary two-thirds majority. Later, he was appointed a Mississippi Commissioner for Confederate POWs held by the U.S. Army (his son among them).
Foote resigned from office in 1865 and moved to Washington, where he sought a meeting with PresidentLincoln but was refused. Given the choice of leaving the United States or being sent back to the Confederacy, Foote fled toCanada and later to London. There he began writing a memoir of his war years.[3]
After the war, Foote returned toNashville, Tennessee, where he practiced law.[10] He was also a frequent visitor to Washington, D.C.[10] He joined theRepublican Party in 1875. He attended the1876 Republican National Convention.[10] He published two memoirs and a history of the law in the region. He was then appointed by PresidentRutherford B. Hayes to serve as the superintendent of theNew Orleans Mint from 1878 to 1880.[2][10] His final public speech, delivered in 1879, was a civil rights speech, and he advocated for the cause in his memoirs.
Foote was married twice. With his first wife, Elizabeth Winters, he had two sons and three daughters.[1] His son Henry S. Foote Jr. served in theConfederate States Army and later as asuperior court judge in California.[7] His other son, W. W. Foote, also served in the CSA and ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat from California in 1892.[7] One of his daughters married Nevada SenatorWilliam Morris Stewart.[7]
Foote had a third son with his second wife,[1] Rachel Douglas Boyd Smiley.[3] They briefly resided atOld Central in West Nashville, a house built in 1858 on land she had inherited from her grandfather,John Boyd, acongressman for theRepublic of Texas.[3] The land and house later became property ofVanderbilt University, where it still stands today.[3] His third son moved to California.[7]
Foote died on May 19, 1880, in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] He was buried in the Smiley family plot at theMount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.[10][11] His second wife Rachel died in 1882.[12]
Notes
Mrs Rachel D. Foote, widow of the late ex-Gov. Henry S. Foote, died near Nashville, Tenn., on the evening of January 9, at the residence of her son, Robert G. Smiley.
Bibliography
Further reading
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| First | Union nominee forGovernor of Mississippi 1851 | Succeeded by None |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 2) from Mississippi March 4, 1847 – January 8, 1852 Served alongside:Jesse Speight,Jefferson Davis andJohn J. McRae | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Mississippi January 10, 1852 – January 5, 1854 | Succeeded by |
| Confederate States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by (none) | Member of theC.S. House of Representatives fromTennessee February 18, 1862 – January 24, 1865 | Succeeded by (none) |
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| Class 2 | ||
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| National | |
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