Governor Francis W. Pickens

You must forgive me for this impersonal biography, I am awaiting my wife, Mrs. Lucy Pickens to write a better one of me and more befitting than this.I was born in Togadoo, St Paul's Parish, in Colleton County, South Carolina. I am the son of Gov. Andrew Pickens and the grandson of General Andrew Pickens, an American Revolutionary soldier at the Battle of Cowpens and former U.S. Congressman. A cousin of my grandmother was South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun. My brother-in-law is General and U.S. Senator Matthew C. Butler—the son of congressman William Butler; grandson of congressman William Butler and a nephew of Senator Andrew Butler.I was educated at Franklin College in Athens, Georgia, and then at South Carolina College in Columbia. I was admitted to the bar in 1829, the same year that my father constructed "Edgewood," a mansion in Edgefield, for me. I joined the Democratic Party and served in the South Carolina house of representatives from 1832–1834, where I was an ardent supporter of nullification. As chairman of a sub-committee, I submitted a report denying the right of Congress to exercise any control over the states.I served in Congress as a representative from South Carolina from 1834 until 1843 (5th District 1834–37; 6th District 1837–39; 5th District 1839–41; 6th District 1841–43). I was a member of the South Carolina state senate from 1844 until 1846. I was then offered the position of Minister to England by President James Polk, and the Minister to France by President John Tyler, but declined these diplomatic posts. I served as a delegate to the Nashville Southern Convention in 1850. I was twice widowed before I married Lucy Petway Holcombe on April 26, 1856. Under President James Buchanan, I was the Minister to Russia from 1858–1860, where we befriended Czar Alexander II.Under my administration as Governor of South Carolina (1860–1862), the state seceded and demanded the surrender of the Federal forts in Charleston harbor. I strongly advocated the secession of the Southern states and signed the South Carolina ordinance of secession. I protested against Major Robert Anderson's removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and offered to buy the fort from the Federal government. On January 9, 1861, I sanctioned the firing upon the relief steamship Star of the West, which was bringing supplies to Anderson's beleaguered garrison. I also approved of the subsequent bombardment of Fort Sumter. He remained a fervent supporter of states rights.