William L. Sharkey

William L. Sharkey
25th Governor of Mississippi
In office June 13, 1865 – October 16, 1865
Preceded by	Charles Clark
Succeeded by	Benjamin G. Humphreys
Personal details
Born	July 12, 1798 Sumner County, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	March 30, 1873 (aged 74) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Whig Party
Signature

William Lewis Sharkey (July 12, 1798 – March 30, 1873) was an American judge and politician from Mississippi. A staunch Unionist during the Civil War, he opposed the 1861 secession of Mississippi.

Sharkey was born in Tennessee in 1798 and moved to Mississippi as a child. He was admitted to the bar in 1822, and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1828 to 1829. He then served on the Supreme Court of the state of Mississippi for 18 years until his 1851 appointment to Secretary of War by President Millard Fillmore. He declined the position and instead served as United States consul in Havana, Cuba. A Whig, he was a Unionist and opposed Mississippi's 1861 secession from the United States.

President Andrew Johnson appointed Sharkey to be provisional governor of Mississippi in 1865. That year, he was elected to the United States Senate but was denied his seat by the Congress.

He died in Washington, D.C. in 1873 and is Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi. Sharkey County, Mississippi, is named in his honor.

Biography[]

Early life[]

William Lewis Sharkey was born on July 12, 1798 in Sumner County, Tennessee. He moved to Warren County, Mississippi in 1804 with his family, when he was six years of age. In 1822, he was admitted to the bar in Natchez, Mississippi.

Career[]

In 1825, he moved to Vicksburg and after a few years was elected for a single term to the state House of Representatives (1828–1829). He served briefly in 1832 as a circuit court judge before being elected a justice to the state supreme court later that year where he remained for 18 years until his resignation. Sharkey was appointed to the office of Secretary of War by U.S. President Millard Fillmore in 1851, but declined. From 1851 to 1854, he served as United States consul in Havana, Cuba.^[1]

He was a member of the Whig Party and was strongly opposed to the secession of Mississippi in 1861. Throughout the American Civil War, he remained a staunch Unionist and, according to one source, was "tolerated by his Confederate neighbors only because of his towering reputation as a jurist."

Governor Charles Clark appointed him in 1865 as a commissioner (along with William Yeager) to confer on behalf of the state with President Andrew Johnson. On June 13, 1865, Johnson appointed Sharkey to be provisional governor,^[2] leaving office with the election of Benjamin G. Humphreys in October. He was elected Senator in 1865 but was denied his seat by the United States Congress.

Death[]

He died in Washington, D.C. in 1873. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi.

Legacy[]

Sharkey County, Mississippi, is named after him.

See also[]

Hinds v. Brazealle

References[]

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External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Sharkey.

• William L. Sharkey at Find a Grave
• Accompanying Document No. 25 and Accompanying Document No. 42 to “Report of Carl Schurz on the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana,” 1865.