P. B. S. Pinchback facts for kids

Quick facts for kids P. B. S. Pinchback
24th Governor of Louisiana
In office December 9, 1872 – January 13, 1873
Preceded by	Henry C. Warmoth
Succeeded by	John McEnery
12th Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana
In office December 6, 1871 – January 13, 1873
Governor	Henry C. Warmoth
Preceded by	Oscar J. Dunn
Succeeded by	Davidson Penn
Personal details
Born	Pinckney Benton Stewart (1837-05-10)May 10, 1837 Macon, Georgia, U.S.
Died	December 21, 1921(1921-12-21) (aged 84) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Emily Hawthorne
Education	Straight University (LLB)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army (Union Army)
Years of service	1862–63
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (born May 10, 1837 – died December 21, 1921) was an important American leader. He was a publisher, a politician, and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Pinchback made history as the first African American to serve as a governor of a U.S. state. He was also the second African American to be a lieutenant governor. He was a member of the Republican Party. Pinchback served as the acting governor of Louisiana for a short time, from December 1872 to January 1873. He was a key figure among African American leaders during the Reconstruction Era. This was the period after the Civil War when the Southern states were rebuilt.

Pinchback was born free in Macon, Georgia. His mother, Eliza Stewart, was a former slave. His father, William Pinchback, was a white plantation owner. William raised Pinckney and his siblings on his large farm in Mississippi. After his father died in 1848, his mother moved the family to Ohio. Ohio was a "free state," meaning slavery was not allowed there. This move helped ensure their freedom.

When the American Civil War began, Pinchback went to New Orleans. The Union Army had taken control of the city. He helped form several companies for the 1st Louisiana Native Guard. This was an all-black Union Army unit. Pinchback became one of the few African Americans to be an officer in the Union Army.

After the war, Pinchback stayed in New Orleans. He became very active in Republican politics. In 1868, he was elected to the Louisiana State Senate. He became the leader of the state senate. When Lieutenant Governor Oscar Dunn died in 1871, Pinchback became the acting Lieutenant Governor. He then briefly served as acting governor of Louisiana. This happened after Governor Henry C. Warmoth faced impeachment charges.

After a very close election in 1872, Republican lawmakers chose Pinchback to serve in the United States Senate. However, there was a lot of disagreement and controversy about the 1872 elections in Louisiana. White Democrats challenged the results. Because of this, Pinchback was never allowed to take his seat in Congress.

Pinchback continued to work for his community. He helped create Southern University, a college for African Americans. He also worked to challenge unfair segregation laws. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1892. He passed away there in 1921.

Early Life and Family

Pinckney Benton Stewart was born in May 1837 in Macon, Georgia. His mother, Eliza Stewart, had been a slave. His father, Major William Pinchback, was a white plantation owner. William had freed Eliza and two of her children in 1836. Eliza later had four more children with William, including Pinckney. All of these children were born free because their mother was free.

Pinckney's parents came from different backgrounds. His mother, Eliza, was of mixed race. She had African, Cherokee, Welsh, and German ancestors. His father, William, was of European descent. He had Scots-Irish, Welsh, and German American ancestors.

Soon after Pinckney was born, his father bought a much larger plantation in Mississippi. He moved there with both his white family and his mixed-race family. Pinckney and his siblings were raised in a comfortable home. Their father treated them well, similar to his white children. In 1846, when Pinckney was nine, his father sent him and his older brother, Napoleon, to a private school in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1848, Pinckney's father died. His mother, Eliza, worried that other relatives might try to claim her children as slaves. So, she quickly moved with her children to Cincinnati, Ohio, which was a free state. Pinckney was only twelve years old. He left school and started working on riverboats to help his family. He also worked as a hotel porter in Terre Haute, Indiana. During this time, he used the name Pinckney B. Stewart. He did not start using his father's last name, Pinchback, until after the Civil War ended.

Marriage and Family Life

In 1860, when he was 23, Pinckney Stewart married Emily Hawthorne. She was also a free woman of color. Emily had a light complexion, meaning she had many European ancestors. They had six children together. Their children were Pinckney Napoleon (born 1862), Bismarck (born 1864), Nina (born 1866), and Walter Alexander (born 1868). Two other children died when they were young. Pinckney named one son Bismarck because he admired the German leader Otto von Bismarck.

Pinckney's mother, Eliza Stewart, lived with Pinckney and his family from 1867 until she died in 1884. The family had a beautiful home in New Orleans. In the summer, they often traveled to Saratoga Springs, New York. This was a popular resort town. Pinchback enjoyed gambling on the horse racing there.

Military Service in the Civil War

The American Civil War started in 1861. Pinckney Stewart decided to fight for the Union side. In 1862, he went to New Orleans. The Union Army had just captured the city. He helped gather several groups of soldiers for the Union's all-black 1st Louisiana Native Guard Regiment. This unit was stationed in New Orleans. Some of the soldiers were free men of color from Louisiana. Most were former slaves who had escaped to join the Union forces and gain their freedom.

Stewart became a captain. He was one of the few African American officers in the Union Army. Most of these officers, like Stewart, were of mixed heritage. Many were from the free people of color community in New Orleans. Stewart became the commander of Company A, 2nd Louisiana Regiment Native Guard Infantry. This company was mostly made up of former slaves. This unit later became the 74th US Colored Infantry Regiment.

Stewart was not promoted twice, and he faced prejudice from white officers. Because of this, he resigned from his position in 1863. After the war, Stewart and his wife moved to Alabama.

Political Career

After the Civil War, Pinckney Stewart returned to New Orleans. He began using his father's last name, Pinchback. He became very active in the Republican Party. In 1867, he started the Fourth Ward Republican Club in New Orleans. This was soon after Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts. That same year, he was chosen as a delegate to a meeting that would write a new state constitution.

In 1868, Pinchback was elected as a State Senator. He was then chosen as the president pro tempore of the Senate. This meant he was the temporary leader of the Senate. Seven of the 36 senators were men of color. In the House of Representatives, half of the seats (42 representatives) were held by African Americans. At that time, the number of African Americans and white people in Louisiana was almost equal.

In 1871, the elected Lieutenant Governor, Oscar Dunn, died. Because Pinchback was the Senate president pro tempore, he became the acting lieutenant governor. Dunn was the first elected African American lieutenant governor in a U.S. state.

Pinchback also started a newspaper called the Louisianian in 1870. He worked as an editor there until 1872. The newspaper's motto was "Republican at all times, and under all circumstances." The paper stopped publishing in 1882.

Pinchback was also appointed as a director of the New Orleans public schools. During Reconstruction, public schools were created for the first time across the state. Pinchback cared deeply about education for black children. He served on the Louisiana State Board of Education from 1871 to 1877.

In 1872, the state legislature started impeachment charges against the governor, Henry Clay Warmoth. This was due to disagreements over the results of the governor's election. Both the Democrat John McEnery and the Republican William Kellogg claimed they had won. Pinchback became acting governor on December 9, 1872. He served for about six weeks, until Warmoth's term ended. Pinchback was the first governor of African descent in U.S. history.

Challenges in Congress

After his time as governor, Pinchback remained active in Louisiana politics. During the 1870s, elections in Louisiana became very violent. Groups like the White League used threats and violence to stop black people from voting. They also tried to force Republicans out of office.

Because of the problems with the 1872 election, four U.S. Congress seats from Louisiana were also disputed. This included Pinchback's seat in the Senate. In early 1873, both the Republican and Democratic groups of lawmakers elected U.S. Senators. Pinchback was chosen by the Republicans. However, the Democratic candidate also claimed the seat. It took years for Congress to decide who should get the seats.

Pinchback eventually gave up his claim to a House of Representatives seat. He wanted to hold out for the Senate seat. However, the U.S. Senate, which was controlled by Democrats, voted against Pinchback. They did, however, give him $16,000 for his salary and travel costs. This was after his long fight to take his seat.

By the late 1870s, African Americans in Louisiana began to lose the political power they had gained after the Civil War. In 1877, Democrats fully took back control of the state government. This happened after federal troops left the South, marking the end of Reconstruction. Many black citizens were prevented from voting by a new state constitution in 1898. They were effectively kept out of politics for many decades.

Pinchback was a delegate to the 1879 state constitutional convention. He and two other African American delegates helped gain support for creating Southern University. This is a historically black college in New Orleans. It was officially started in 1880. Pinchback was appointed to the college's Board of Trustees. The college later moved to Baton Rouge in 1914.

In 1882, the national Republican government appointed Pinchback as a surveyor of customs in New Orleans. This was an important political job. He held this position until 1885. It was his last political role.

Later Life and Legacy

In 1885, Pinchback studied law at Straight University in New Orleans. This was a historically black college that later became part of Dillard University. He became a lawyer in Louisiana in 1886, but he never practiced law.

Pinchback and his family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1892. He had become wealthy from his political jobs and the money he received for the Senate seat. He built a large house in Washington. His oldest son, Pinckney Pinchback, was a pharmacist in Philadelphia. His three younger children, aged 22 to 26, still lived at home. The Pinchback family was part of the mixed-race elite in Washington. These were people who had generally been free before the war. They were often educated and owned property.

Pinchback later worked for a time in New York as a U.S. Marshal.

When he died in 1921 in Washington, D.C., Pinchback was not widely known in politics anymore. His body was brought back to New Orleans. He was buried in Metairie Cemetery.

Pinchback and his wife Emily were the grandparents of Jean Toomer. Their daughter, Nina Pinchback Toomer, lived with her parents after her husband left her. They helped raise Jean, and he started school in Washington, D.C. Jean Toomer later became a famous poet and writer. He was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

Images for kids

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  Insignia for a U.S. Army Captain

See also

In Spanish: P. B. S. Pinchback para niños