Governor of the State of South Carolina - Francis Wilkinson Pickens




Francis Wilkinson Pickens
39th Governor of the State of South Carolina 1860 to 1862

Date Born: April 7, 1805				Date Died: January 25, 1869
Place Born: St. Paul's Parish, Colleton District, SC				Place Buried: Willowbrook Cemetery, Edgefield, SC
Residence: Unknown				Occupation: Lawyer, Politician

South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) - withdrew 1827 South Carolina House of Representatives, 1832-1834, 1844-1846 US House of Representatives, 1834-1843 US Minister to Russia, 1858-1860 December 20, 1860 – South Carolina seceded from the United States January 9, 1861 – Pickens authorized troops to fire on the Star of the West, a Union ship, in the first military engagement of the Civil War 1862 – South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) closed as a result of the onset of the Civil War Francis Wilkinson Pickens was the son of Governor Andrew Pickens Pickens, Francis Wilkinson, (grandson of Andrew Pickens), a Representative from South Carolina; born on a plantation on the Toogoodoo River, St. Paul’s Parish, Colleton District, S.C., April 7, 1805; completed preparatory studies; attended Franklin College, Athens, Ga., and was graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) at Columbia; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Edgefield District in 1829; engaged in planting; member of the state house of representatives 1832-1833; elected as a Nullifier to the Twenty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of George McDuffie; reelected as a Nullifier to the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses and elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses and served from December 8, 1834, to March 3, 1843; chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Twenty-sixth Congress); member of the state senate 1844-1846; member of the Nashville southern convention in 1850; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1856; unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 1857 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Andrew P. Butler; Minister to Russia 1858-1860; governor of South Carolina 1860-1862; died in Edgefield, Edgefield County, S.C., January 25, 1869; interment in Edgefield Cemetery.

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