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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—VirginiaLETCHER, John
(1813—1884)
LETCHER, John, a Representative from Virginia; born in Lexington, Rockbridge County, Va., March 29, 1813; attended private rural schools and Randolph-Macon College; was graduated from Washington Academy (now Washington and Lee University), Lexington, Va., in 1833; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Lexington, Va., in 1839; editor of the Valley Star from 1840 to 1850; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1850; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-second and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1851-March 3, 1859); was not a candidate for renomination in 1858, having become a candidate for Governor; Governor of Virginia 1860-1864; prominent in the organization of the peace convention that met in Washington, D.C., February 8, 1861, in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; discouraged secession, but was active in sustaining the ordinance passed by Virginia April 17, 1861; after the war and the expiration of his term as Governor resumed the practice of law in Lexington; member of the State house of delegates 1875-1877; member of the board of visitors of the Virginia Military Institute 1866-1880 and served as president of the board for ten years; again resumed the practice of law in Lexington, Va., where he died on January 26, 1884; interment in the Presbyterian Cemetery.
Bibliography
Boney, F.N. John Letcher of Virginia; The Story of Virginia’s Civil War Governor
. University, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1966.
Bean, William G. “John Letcher and the Slavery Issue in Virginia’s Gubernatorial Contest of 1858-1859.” Journal of Southern History
20 (February 1954): 22-49.
Boney, F. N. John Letcher of Virginia; The Story of Virginia’s Civil War Governor.
University: University of Alabama Press, 1966.
———. “Turn About and Fair Play: A Connecticut General Befriends a Confederate Governor.” Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin
31 (April 1966): 33-39.
Hitchcock, William S. “The Limits of Southern Unionism: Virginia Conservatives and the Gubernatorial Election of 1859.” Journal of Southern History
47 (February 1981): 57-72.
Letcher, John. Address on the re-inauguration of the bronze statue of George Washington
. [Richmond: Whig Print, 1866].
———. Speech of Hon. J. Letcher, of Virginia, on the public expenditures. Delivered in the House of Representatives, June 12, 1858
. [Washington: Printed by L. Towers, 1858].
———. Speech of Hon. John Letcher, of Virginia, in the House of Representatives, February 27, 1855, on territorial policy
. [Washington: Printed at the Congressional Globe
Office, 1855].
———. Speech of Hon. John Letcher, of Virginia, on the political issues now before the country. Delivered in the House of Representatives, August 2, 1856
. Washington: Printed at the Union Office, 1856.
———. Speech of Hon, John Letcher, of Virginia, on the Printing Deficiency Bill; delivered in the House of Representatives, January 29, 1858
. Washington: Printed at the office of the Congressional Globe
, 1858.
———. Speech of Hon. John Letcher, of Virginia, on the resolution reported by the Committee of Elections in the contested-election case from Kansas Territory
. Washington: Printed at the Congressional Globe
Office, 1856.
———. Treasury notes
. [N.p., 1857].
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
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