Francis T. Nicholls
Francis
Redding Tillou Nicholls was born on August 20, 1834, in Donaldsonville, Ascension
Parish. After his graduation from West Point in 1855, he practiced law in South
Louisiana. During the Civil War he rose to the rank of brigadier general. His
battlefield wounds cost him his left arm and leg and he was a prisoner of war.
After the war he returned to his law practice in Napoleonville.
The Louisiana State Democratic Party nominated him for governor in 1876. His election generally is considered to mark the end to Louisiana's political Reconstruction and the reestablishment of "Home Rule."
His second tenure as governor (1888 1892) was climaxed by his successful opposition to the corrupt Louisiana Lottery Company. With his term completed, he was named chief justice to the Louisiana Supreme Court. He retired to his Thibodaux home in 1911 and died in 1912.