Louis Dicken Wilson

Louis Dicken Wilson (May 12, 1789 - August 12, 1847) was a North Carolinian politician and general in the United States Army.[1] He served in the General Assembly of North Carolina and the North Carolina Senate for in various terms between 1814 and 1846. Wilson County, North Carolina is named in his honor, as well as the city of Wilson, North Carolina.[2]

He was a member of the Democratic Party. His traditional opponents during elections were Whigs.[3]

Biography

He was born on May 12, 1789 to William Wilson and Elizabeth Dicken at their plantation south of Tar River in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. After receiving an education at the local academy, in 1807 he moved to Washington, Connecticut where he worked in a Counting house. Apparently around this time he also studied law because in a few later he returned home and qualified as a Notary Public on May 28, 1812, then on February 24, 1817 a he became a Justice of the Peace.[1]

He represented Edgecombe County, North Carolina in the General Assembly of North Carolina from 1814 to 1819 and in the North Carolina Senate in 1820 then again from 1824 to 1832.[1] In 1835 he was a delegate to the North Carolina constitutional convention.[2]

On December 19, 1827 he was elected Brigadier-General of the 5th North Carolina Brigade. On December 12, 1846 he requested a leave of absence from the State senate to fight in the Mexican American War. Wilson returned to Edgecombe and on January 5 was made Captain of Company A of the First Edgecombe Volunteer Regiment which summarily deployed to Mexico. On March 3, 1847 Wilson was offered the post of Colonel of the 12th Regiment of the United States Infantry by President James K. Polk which he returned to Washington to accept on April 9.[1]

He died on August 12, 1847 of yellow fever in Vera Cruz, Mexico. He was never married and had no recorded children. He did however will Edgecombe County the substantial sum of $40,000 for helping the county's poor (of which only $12,000 was properly utilized, $10,000 lost to bad investments and $18,000 skimmed off by certain government officials during Reconstruction).[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Johnston, Hugh. "General Louis Dicken Wilson".
  2. 1 2 Fleming, Monika. Echoes of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Arcadia Publishing, 1999. (ISBN 0752405306)
  3. ↑ Fleming, Monika. Edgecombe County: Along the Tar River. United States: Arcadia Publishing, 2003. (ISBN 0738524123)
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