Francis Wilkinson Pickens (1807-1869)

US Congressman, US Senator, US Diplomat. He was the grandson of Revolutionary War General and Hero, Andrew Pickens, and the son of South Carolina Governor Andrew Pickens. He had the misfortune to be elected Governor of South Carolina on the Outbreak of the American Civil War. A lukewarm secessionist, he tried to calm tempers after South Carolina's Secession to prevent War from breaking out. He was called a "Peace At Any Price Man" for doing so, but events were beyond his control and the war broke out on Apri 12th, 1861 with South Carolina forces firing on the United States Army garrison of Fort Sumter. Francis Pickens' term ended in 1862 and he retired to his plantation, Edgewood, for the rest of the war. He spent his last years in debt losing almost everything during the war. The heaadstone may have the wrong birth year.

Bio by: LeeWhite