Lieutenant Colonel of the 8th Louisiana Infantry

Wounded and captured at Winchester, Virginia in 1862 losing his left arm as a result, and at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 his left foot was blown off by an artillery shell

Governor of Louisiana

(1834-1912) Born at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, he graduated in the West Point class of 1855. He studied law at the University of Louisiana, now Tulane University, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Napoleonville. At the outbreak of the War Between the States, he entered the Confederate Army as captain of the "Phoenix Guards," but was soon elected lieutenant colonel of the 8th Louisiana Infantry. He fought with the regiment at the 1st battle of Manassas, and in General Stonewall Jackson's celebrated 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign. He was wounded, and captured at Winchester, Virginia, in 1862, and lost his left arm as a result of this wound. He was wounded a second time, this occurring at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, where his left foot was torn off by an artillery shell. He had been promoted to brigadier general, on October 14, 1862, and commanded one of the Louisiana Brigades at Chancellorsville. Unfit for further field command after his two severe wounds that resulted in amputations, he was appointed commander of the post at Lynchburg, Va. He was later put in charge of the volunteer and conscript bureau of the Trans-Mississippi Department, a post he held for the remainder of the war. After the war, Nicholls returned to his law practice, and later served as Governor of Louisiana, 1877-80, and 1888-92. He was chairman of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1879, and returned the state Capitol from New Orleans back to Baton Rouge. He also accepted an appointment from President Grover Cleveland to serve on the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Military Academy. Nicholls became Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1892, a post which he held until 1911. He also grew sugar cane and other crops on his Ridgefield Plantation near Thibodaux. He died at Ridgefield, on January 4, 1912, and was interred in St. John's Episcopal Cemetery, in Thibodaux, La. A street in New Orleans was named in his honor, that being "Governor Nicholls Street" which meets the Mississippi River, near the downriver end of the French Quarter.

Card Signature: 3 x 2 1/8, beautifully signed in ink, Francis T. Nicholls. Extremely desirable Confederate general's autograph. Excellent condition.