Louis T. Wigfall

After Texas joined the United States in 1846, tens of thousands of immigrants poured across its borders in search of cheap land and new lives. Most came from the American South, which by then had developed a distinct culture based upon cotton and slavery. Over the next fifteen years, Texas became, in many ways, a part of the Old South, and when southern states began leaving the Union in 1860 Texas followed suit. One of the most vociferous advocates for secession, and one of the people most responsible for tying the fortunes of the Lone Star State to the Confederacy, was Louis T. Wigfall.

Louis Trezevant Wigfall was born in 1816 in Edgefield, South Carolina, to a well-to-do, socially prominent family, and was reared privileged in an extremely class-conscious society. He immersed himself in the agrarian culture of the region and devoted himself to preserving and expanding it. As a young man he witnessed South Carolina's dispute with the federal government over tariffs and became a lifelong advocate of state's rights. These two beliefs-in the romance of the Old South and the sovereignty of individual states-Wigfall carried with him to Texas in 1846.

Settling in Marshall and opening a law practice, Wigfall quickly established himself as one of the community's most ardent and vocal "fire-eaters," a name given to southerners who supported radical means to defend slavery and state's rights. He was elected to the Texas legislature in 1850 and adopted a staunch anti-Sam Houston position. In 1857 he helped elect fellow extremist Hardin Runnels governor, thus handing Houston the only electoral defeat of his career. Two years later Wigfall was selected by the legislature to represent Texas in the United States Senate.

As "the most violent partisan in the state," according to one contemporary, Wigfall was a natural choice for a state more and more supportive of the political position of the Deep South. In the senate he continued his by-now familiar diatribes against federal powers and northern intrusion into southern life. He rarely concerned himself with Texas, instead identifying closely with his native South Carolina. In 1860 he was instrumental in fracturing the Democratic Party, hoping to kill any possibility of compromise between north and south. Then, when Abraham Lincoln was elected and South Carolina led the parade of southern states out of the Union, Wigfall rejoiced.

Wigfall was at Fort Sumter in April 1861 when the Civil War began, gleefully demanding the surrender of the federal post. He continued to serve the Confederacy as a military commander-without great distinction, as according to many accounts he was often inebriated -until November, when he took his place in the Confederate Senate for the remainder of the war. After the Union victory, Wigfall exiled himself to England to foment anti-American sentiment, then returned to Baltimore to live. Texas, however, called again, and in February 1874 Wigfall returned to his adopted state. Landing at Galveston and intending to revive his long-dormant law practice, he instead died unexpectedly of an unknown disease.

Louis T. Wigfall is buried in Galveston's Trinity Episcopal Church cemetery. To get there, take I-45 to the island and follow it east as it turns into Avenue K toward town. Turn north on 22nd Street for a few blocks to Winnie; the church is located at the intersection.

For more information about Louis T. Wigfall, see Dallas Cothrum, "Louis T. Wigfall: Just Plain Mean," in The Human Tradition in Texas, ed. by Ty Cashion and Jesús F. De La Teja (SR Books, 2001), or the New Handbook of Texas. To learn more about East Texas history, contact the East Texas Historical Association at Stephen F. Austin State University or visit the ETHA web site at http://leonardo.sfasu.edu/etha/.