Wilson Richardson
Born
Wilson Gaines Richardson

December 9, 1825
Maysville, Kentucky
DiedJuly 5, 1886(1886-07-05) (aged 60)
Resting placeStanton Cemetery
Stanton, Tennessee
NationalityAmerican
Education
Occupation(s)American Classicist, Minister
Employer(s)
  • Professor at University of Mississippi, Oakland College, Central University, Davidson College and Austin College
Spouses
  • Louisa Vinson
  • Anne Herring
Military career
Allegiance Confederate States
Service/branch Confederate States Army
 Confederate States Navy
Years of service1862-1865
RankPrivate (CSA)
Paymaster (CSN)
Unit11th Mississippi Infantry
CSS Alert
CSS Selma
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Wilson Gaines Richardson (born Maysville, Kentucky, December 9, 1825; died Staunton, Tennessee, July 5, 1886)[1] was an American Classicist, minister, and veteran of the Civil War.[2] Richardson was the son of Thomas Gaines and Sarah (née Perry) Richardson and the grandson of Richard and Sarah (née Gaines) Richardson and of Captain John and Elizabeth (née Leathers) Perry of Woodford county, Kentucky.[3]

Education

He graduated from the University of Alabama with A.B. (1844) and A.M. (1847) degrees after which he served as a tutor in ancient languages at the university.[4] He received his Ph.D. from Hiram College.[1] From 1854 to 1859 Gaines was professor of Latin and French at the University of Mississippi in Oxford and then at Oakland College from 1859–1862.[5]

Military service

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Gaines enlisted as a private in the Lamar Rifles;[6] he was wounded in action at the Battle of Gaines's Mill. Afterwards Gaines Richardson became a paymaster in the Confederate States Navy, serving aboard the CSS Selma (1856) and CSS Alert and was subsequently taken prisoner following the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864. Gaines was exchanged March 4, 1865 at Ship Island, Mississippi, surrendered at Citronelle May 4, 1865 and paroled May 18, 1865 at Grenada, Mississippi.[7]

Career after the war

After the war Gaines Richardson was professor of ancient languages and French at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina;[1][8] professor of Latin and French at Central University, Kentucky (1874–1878), and professor of languages at Austin College, Texas (1878–1881). From 1882 to 1884 he attended Princeton Theological Seminary and served as a pastor at Staunton, Tennessee (1884–1886). Hiram College conferred an honorary Ph.D. in 1876.

Personal life

Wilson Gaines Richardson was twice married: he wed Louisa Vinson, daughter of Dr. Robert Lewis and Martha (née Bush) Kennon of Jackson, Miss., on February 4, 1857, and following her death, Mrs. Anne Herring on February 10, 1876.

References

  1. ^ a b c Princeton Theological Seminary. Alumni Association; Joseph Heatly Dulles (1891). Necrological Reports and Annual Proceedings of the Alumni Association of Princeton Theological Seminary. Princeton Theological Seminary. pp. 10–.
  2. ^ Rossiter Johnson; John Howard Brown (1904). The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans ... Biographical Society.
  3. ^ Wilson Gaines Richardson, M.A., PH. D. 1881.
  4. ^ James Benson Sellers (31 March 2014). History of the University of Alabama: Volume One, 1818-1902. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0-8173-5769-6. p. 108
  5. ^ "from the beginning to "the war"". classics.olemiss.edu. university of mississippi. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  6. ^ "The Lamar Rifles - 11th Mississippi Company G". 11th-miss.com. Retrieved 2015-04-06.
  7. ^ Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy, 1861-1865. Washington D.C.: Office of Naval Records and Library. 1931. p. 163. Retrieved 8 December 2017.

    External links[edit]

  8. ^ Shireen Campbell (2014-06-24). "Lucy P. Russell 1920 Letter". Sites.davidson.edu. Retrieved 2015-04-06.


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