Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Researchers may access digitized materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Benjamin Wilson, Attorney, Letter Regarding Conditions in Richmond after Passage of Secession Ordinance, A&M 3626, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Benjamin Wilson was born in Wilsonburg, Harrison County, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1825. He attended the Northwestern Virginia Academy at Clarksburg and the law school in Staunton, Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He then commenced practice in Clarksburg, Harrison County, Virginia (now West Virginia), and served as Commonwealth attorney for Harrison County in 1852-1860. He was a member of the State constitutional convention of West Virginia in 1872; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872; and was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and three succeeding Congresses (4 March 1875 to 3 March 1883). He also served as Assistant Attorney General of the United States in 1885-1893. He died in Clarksburg, West Virginia in 1905, and was interred in the Odd Fellows Cemetery.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901
• Richmond (Va.)
• Secession - Virginia.