Francis Tillou Nicholls
Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls was born on Aug. 20, 1834, in Donaldsonville, La., (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 is generally considered to mark the end of 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.