# James Madison Wells

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American politician (1808–1899)

For the businessman, see [James M. Wells III](/source/James_M._Wells_III). For the Idaho state senator, see [James Monroe Wells](/source/James_Monroe_Wells).

James Madison Wells Depiction from Harper's Weekly, 1865. 20th Governor of Louisiana In office March 4, 1865 – June 3, 1867 Lieutenant Albert Voorhies Preceded by Michael Hahn Succeeded by Benjamin Flanders 9th Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana In office 1864–1865 Governor Michael Hahn Preceded by Benjamin W. Pearce Succeeded by Albert Voorhies Personal details Born (1808-01-07)January 7, 1808 near Alexandria, Louisiana, US Died February 28, 1899(1899-02-28) (aged 91) Lecompte, Louisiana, US Party Republican Spouse Mary Ann Scott Children 13

**James Madison Wells** (January 7, 1808 – February 28, 1899) was a planter, lawyer, and politician who became the 20th [governor of Louisiana](/source/Governor_of_Louisiana) during [Reconstruction](/source/Reconstruction_Era). Although a slave owner, Wells opposed secession and remained loyal to The Union throughout the [Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War). After serving as the ninth [lieutenant governor](/source/Lieutenant_Governor_of_Louisiana) under [Michael Hahn](/source/Michael_Hahn), he assumed office as Governor after Hahn was elected to the U.S. Senate.

## Early life

James Madison Wells was born on New Hope Plantation near [Alexandria](/source/Alexandria%2C_Louisiana), Louisiana, on January 7, 1808 to Samuel Levi Wells II and Mary Elizabeth Calvit Wells. His father was a member of [Louisiana's constitutional convention in 1811](/source/Constitution_of_Louisiana#Louisiana_Constitution_of_1812) and died when James was eight years old.[1]

Wells was educated at the Jesuit-run [St. Joseph's College](/source/St._Joseph's_College_(Kentucky)) in [Bardstown](/source/Bardstown%2C_Kentucky) south of [Louisville, Kentucky](/source/Louisville%2C_Kentucky); Partridge's Academy, [Middletown, Connecticut](/source/Middletown%2C_Connecticut); and [Cincinnati Law School](/source/Cincinnati_Law_School). In Cincinnati, he was tutored in law by an old-line Federalist named Charles Hammond, who edited the *[Cincinnati Gazette](/source/Cincinnati_Gazette)*. Hammond's frequent attacks on slavery failed to influence Wells. Wells later owned nearly one hundred slaves.[2]

He moved to New Orleans in 1830 and married Mary Ann Scott with whom he had thirteen children.[1]

## Political activities

In 1833, Wells married 15-year-old Mary Ann Scott; together they had 14 children. Wells inherited a substantial [estate](/source/Estate_(land)); he controlled a large [cotton](/source/Cotton) [plantation](/source/Plantations_in_the_American_South) called *New Hope* near Alexandria, a [sugar](/source/Sugarcane) plantation on [Bayou Huffpower](/source/Bayou_Huffpower) in [Avoyelles Parish](/source/Avoyelles_Parish) called *Wellswood*, and a large summer home *Jessamine Hill* near [Lecompte, Louisiana](/source/Lecompte%2C_Louisiana). Wells was appointed [Sheriff](/source/Sheriff) of [Rapides Parish](/source/Rapides_Parish) in 1840 by Governor [Andre B. Roman](/source/Andre_B._Roman). Wells was an active [Whig](/source/Whig_Party_(United_States)) and a [large slave holder](/source/History_of_slavery_in_Louisiana). Eventually, as the Whig Party collapsed in the 1850s, Wells became a [Democrat](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)). His brother, Thomas Jefferson Wells, was the Whig nominee for governor in 1859, against eventual winner [Thomas Overton Moore](/source/Thomas_Overton_Moore).

In 1860, he supported [Stephen A. Douglas](/source/Stephen_A._Douglas), the Northern Democratic candidate for president and was an ardent supporter of the Union. For that, he was criticized by his neighbors and by his brother. During the [Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War), Wells was arrested by [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_American) officials for his [Union](/source/Union_(Civil_War)) sympathies.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Wells remained on his plantation outside Alexandria until the spring of 1863 when he remarked that the recently deceased Gen. ["Stonewall" Jackson](/source/Stonewall_Jackson) should be buried "in a gum coffin, and that the bottom plank might be very thin, so that he might eat his way down to where it was intended that he should go." Soon thereafter, he fled into the woods and briefly organized a band of unionist partisans, or [Jayhawkers](/source/Jayhawker), to attack rebel supply trains. In November, he left the woods and moved to Union-occupied New Orleans.[3]

By 1864, [Union troops](/source/Union_Army) controlled all or part of 17 [parishes](/source/List_of_parishes_in_Louisiana) in south Louisiana. Wells formed the Unconditional Union Club of West Louisiana. He was nominated both by radicals such as [Benjamin Flanders](/source/Benjamin_Flanders) and moderates such as [Michael Hahn](/source/Michael_Hahn), to be [Lieutenant Governor](/source/List_of_Lieutenant_Governors_of_Louisiana).

## Statewide office

Engraving of Wells along with Returning Board members Louis M. Kenner, Gardene Casanave, and Thomas C. Anderson, 1877.

On March 4, 1864, Wells became lieutenant governor under Governor [Michael Hahn](/source/Michael_Hahn). He supported [compensated emancipation](/source/Compensated_emancipation) for former slaves at the [Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1864](/source/Constitution_of_Louisiana#Louisiana_Constitution_of_1864). One year later, on March 4, 1865, Wells was inaugurated as governor when [Michael Hahn](/source/Michael_Hahn) resigned to become a United States Senator. In November 1865, a [special election](/source/Special_election) was held under the [Reconstruction](/source/Reconstruction_Era) government, and Governor Wells running as a Democrat defeated former Governor [Henry W. Allen](/source/Henry_W._Allen) (who was in Mexico), with 22,312 votes to Allen's 5,497. As governor, Wells removed radicals from office.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Wells came into conflict with the federal military authority under General [Nathaniel P. Banks](/source/Nathaniel_P._Banks). He supported [Hugh Kennedy](/source/Hugh_Kennedy_(New_Orleans)) as New Orleans mayor and appointed numerous former [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) [officers](/source/Officer_(armed_forces)) to state and local offices. He recommended dismantling public education and using only taxes from [blacks](/source/Black_people) to pay for [freedmen](/source/Freedman)'s schools. Wells also wanted to build new [levees](/source/Levee), a new capitol building, and a state penitentiary, but the [Louisiana State Legislature](/source/Louisiana_State_Legislature) balked at his proposals.

The political power of former Confederates grew unchecked during Wells administration until the residents of New Orleans returned the city's Confederate mayor, John T. Monroe, to office in 1866. Governor Wells responded by endorsing the Radical plan to enfranchise [blacks](/source/African_Americans) by reconvening the constitutional convention. On [July 30, 1866](/source/New_Orleans_Massacre_of_1866), the twenty-five delegates brave enough to assembled and a procession of [black](/source/African_American) supporters were attacked by a white mob including members of the city policy. Thirty-four [blacks](/source/African_Americans) and three white Radicals were killed before federal troops arrived.[4] Governor Wells did little to prevent violence, and General [Philip Sheridan](/source/Philip_Sheridan) held him responsible. Sheridan removed him from office on June 3, 1867, for the riots and for failing to implement reforms regarding freedmen.

## Later years

After being removed as governor, Wells went home to Rapides Parish. In 1872 he supported [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) President [Ulysses S. Grant](/source/Ulysses_S._Grant)'s re-election. During the 1870s Wells returned to politics as a "[scalawag](/source/Scalawag)" and was known by opponents as "Mad Wells." In 1873, he was appointed chairman of the State Returning Board, which was responsible for determining the legality of ballots and for discarding fraudulent votes. In this, Wells helped Republicans regain some of the votes it lost to white Democrats' anti-Black violence and terror. He was consequently appointed Surveyor of the [Port of New Orleans](/source/Port_of_New_Orleans) (Customs) from 1874 to 1880.

He died on February 28, 1899, at his residence in Rapides Parish, at the age of 91.

## Sources

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) Eakin, Sue (2011). ["James Madison Wells"](https://64parishes.org/entry/james-madison-wells). *64 Parishes*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Ted Tunnell, *Crucible of Reconstruction: War, Radicalism, and Race in Louisiana, 1862-1877* (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1984), 22.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Tunnell, Crucible of Reconstruction, 23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Foner, Eric (1988). *Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1876* (Perennial Library ed.). Cambridge: Harper and Row. pp. 262–263. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-06-015851-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-06-015851-4).

- [Political Graveyard](http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/wells.html#RL3186MDD)

- [National Governor's Association biography](https://web.archive.org/web/20110521193544/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=e6a9e93e20076010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=4b18f074f0d9ff00VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD)

- [Walter M. Lowrey](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walter_M._Lowrey&action=edit&redlink=1), "The Political Career of James Madison Wells," *Louisiana Historical Quarterly*, 31 (October, 1948), pp. 995–1,123, [Louisiana Historical Society](/source/Louisiana_Historical_Society).

## External links

Media related to [James Madison Wells](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:James_Madison_Wells) at Wikimedia Commons

- [State of Louisiana -Biography](https://web.archive.org/web/20080221035201/http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/tabid/378/Default.aspx)

- [Cemetery Memorial](http://www.la-cemeteries.com/Governors/Wells,%20James%20Madison/Wells,%20James%20Madison.shtml) by La-Cemeteries

- [Accompanying Document No. 8](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Condition_of_the_South#no8) to “Report of Carl Schurz on the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana,” 1865. Correspondence with General [E. R. S. Canby](/source/E._R._S._Canby).

Party political offices Preceded by Michael Hahn Republican nominee for Governor of Louisiana 1865 Succeeded by Henry C. Warmoth Political offices Preceded by Benjamin W. Pearce Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana 1864–1865 Succeeded by Albert Voorhies Preceded by Michael Hahn Governor of Louisiana 1865–1867 Succeeded by Benjamin Flanders

v t e Governors of Louisiana State (1812–1861) Claiborne Villeré Robertson Thibodaux H. Johnson Derbigny Beauvais Dupré Roman White Roman Mouton I. Johnson Walker Hébert Wickliffe Moore Confederate (1861–1865) Moore H. Allen Union (1862–1865) Shepley Hahn Reconstruction (1865–1868) Wells Flanders Baker State (since 1868) Warmoth Pinchback J. McEnery Kellogg Packard Nicholls Wiltz S. McEnery Nicholls M. J. Foster Heard Blanchard Sanders Hall Pleasant Parker Fuqua Simpson H. Long King O. Allen Noe Leche E. Long Jones Davis E. Long Kennon E. Long Davis McKeithen E. Edwards Treen E. Edwards Roemer E. Edwards M. Foster Blanco Jindal J. Edwards Landry

v t e Lieutenant governors of Louisiana Landry Plauché Farmer Wickliffe C. Mouton Griffin Hyams Pearce Wells Voorhies Dunn Pinchback Antoine Wiltz McEnery Robertson Walton Knobloch Jeffries Parlange Lott Snyder Estopinal Sanders Lambremont Barret F. Mouton Bouanchaud Johnson Simpson Gilbert Cyr Fournet Wingate Noe Long Lindsey M. Mouton Verret Dodd Barham Frazar Aycock Fitzmorris Freeman Hardy Schwegmann Blanco Landrieu Angelle Dardenne Nungesser

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Other Open Library SNAC

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Madison Wells](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison_Wells) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison_Wells?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.