HENRY H. WELLS.
Henry H. Wells was born in Rochester, New York, September 17,
1823. He was educated at the Romeo Academy in Michigan, and,
studying law, was admitted to the bar in Detroit, where he successfully
practiced his profession from 1846 to 1861. He served as a member of
the Michigan Legislature from 1854 to 1856. Upon the breaking
out of the late civil war, he entered the volunteer service of the Union
army, in which he served with distinction, attaining the brevet rank of
Brigadier-General. Having resigned from the army, he located in 1865
in Richmond, Virginia, and resumed the practice of law. He was appointed
April 16, 1868, by General John M. Schofield, United States
Army, commanding the First Military District of Virginia, Provisional
Governor of Virginia, superseding Governor Francis H. Pierpont. He
held this station until April 21, 1869, when he resigned, and Gilbert Carleton
Walker, Governor-elect of the State by popular vote, was appointed
in his stead by General E. R. S. Canby, United States Army, then commanding
the First Military District of Virginia. General Wells was
soon after appointed United States Attorney for the Eastern District of
Virginia, which position he held until 1872, when he resigned, and resumed
the practice of law. In 1875 he removed to Washington City,
and in September of that year was appointed and entered upon the
duties of United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. His
son, H. H. Wells, Jr., received the appointment of Assistant Attorney
for the District. They held office until 1879, when they were succeeded
respectively by George B. Corkhill and R. Ross Perry. General Wells
now resides in Washington, engaged in the practice of his profession.
