Des Arc weekly citizen., 1869-02-16
A Brief sketch of Ex-Governor
 PickemS of South carolina. Fron, inc Now York Herald

Francis w. Pickens, of South Carolina, one of the earliest and most prominent actors of tho recent civil war, passed from earth on Monday last. On that day Francis w Pickens, formerly member oi Congress, Minister to Russia. and Cover nor of. South Carolina, died at his resi- dcnce in Edgerield, after lingering illness, aggravated, it is said, by mental anxiety and the disappointments which attended his life. The deceased was descended from one of the most conspicu- ous men of Revolutionary renown, his grandfather being General Andrew Pickens, whose campaigns against the Indians and British, in what was then known as the Warsaw Settlement" are familiar to every student of American his tory The subject of this sketch gradua
 ted at the South Carolina College in 1926
 was soon after admitted to the bar, and in 1928 was elected d member of the State Legislature. After serving several terms he was, in 1885, elected Representative to Congress from the district once repre-
 sentcd by Calhoun and McDufie His career as member of the House was sufficiently successiu iul to insure his reec
 ton to five successive Congresses. In 1915 he declined further Congressional honors, and retired to private life, remain
 ing out of office until 1858, when he was appointed Minister to Russia by Presi dent Buchanan In 1860 he was elected Governor of South Carolina, and was a member of the convention which took the State out of the Union. He was an ar dent secessionist, and did all that was in his power to make the cause of the South successful Alter his gubera.tori al term had expired, Mr. pickens, as q pr,vate citizen. was conspicuous in his efforts to support the Confederate authorities in d vigorous prosecution uf the war. Large sums of money were taken from his private fortune and spent to further the cause in which he had risked evervthl.''ng
 After the Conteaeracy was oyerthrown. he accepted the situation in good faith
 F'ec.ei Il member of the convention which met under President Johnson $ plan of restoration, he did not hesitate to introduce resolution declaring slavery abolished and to espouse and support such other measures as he believel were necessary to place South Carolina once more on friendly footing with the loyal States That he was disappointed and heartsick at the failure of the South to achieve independence he ever freely ad- mit.ed. The almost total loss of his i'm. mense wealth which included nearly six hundred slaves ke declared affected him less than the degradation to which South Carolina was reduced by the rcconstrac
 ton laws of Congress, which he ever op- posed. Whatever may have been thought of the opinions of Governor Pickens none can gainsay his honesty and earnestness
 in tle views he held His education. wh oh made those views rart of his nature, was neither more nor less than oi thousands iu the South who were taught to, and even now believe that this is, or was, confederation of sovereign States and not a ie eral Union The surrender of Lee and Johnston was a blow from which he never recovered, and 1t would not be amiss to place his name in the list of prominent Southern men who>e deaths since the war ended have been caused more from mental anguish at the overthrow of the SoRlh than from bodily ailments.