Louis Trezevant Wigfall
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(April 21, 1816 - February 18, 1874) Native South Carolinian, Sergeant in Seminole War, lawyer, member Texas Legislature, an ardent secessionist as United States Senator from 1859 to 1861, visited Fort Sumter with surrender demand as aide to General Beauregard, member Confederate States Provisional Congress, Colonel of 1st Texas Confederate Infantry, Brigadier-General in Confederate Infantry, Brigadier-General in Confederate Army, member Confederate States Senate. Erected by the State of Texas, 1963
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Louis Trezevant Wigfall (1816–1874) was a South Carolina–born lawyer and firebrand who rose through Texas politics to the U.S. Senate, where he became one of the most uncompromising voices for Southern secession. On the eve of the Civil War he famously rowed out to Fort Sumter as an aide to General Beauregard to press its surrender, then served the Confederacy as a colonel of the 1st Texas Infantry, a brigadier general, and a Confederate senator. Texas placed this marker in 1963.
Why it matters
Wigfall embodied the radical secessionist politics that pushed the nation into civil war, and his career links Texas directly to the conflict's opening shots at Fort Sumter.
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Related people
- · Louis Trezevant Wigfall
- · P. G. T. Beauregard
Related events
- · Secession
- · Fort Sumter surrender
Themes & tags
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