William Maxwell Evarts (1818-1901) - Find a Grave Memorial

Presidential Cabinet Secretary, US Senator. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was the grandson of Founding Father, Roger Sherman and the cousin of Roger Sherman Baldwin. An 1837 graduate of Yale and an alumnus of Harvard Law School, he was an author of political articles, an assistant United States attorney, and the successful counsel in the Lemmon Slave Case, which gave freedom to a slave who had escaped in New York City while being taken from Virginia to Texas by ship. In 1860 he headed the New York delegation at the Republican national convention and led the fight for William H. Seward's nomination. He was a strong Union man and the secretary of New York's Union Defense Committee in 1861. That year, during the Enchantress Affair, he handled the prosecution involving the Confederate privateer crew and received national attention because of the life or death stakes and the delicacy the case required. With his reputation for sensitivity established, he was sent on 2 diplomatic missions to England, in 1863 and 1864, to negotiate for an end to the private construction of Confederate warships. During this period, until Salmon P. Chase became available for the position, he was under consideration as successor to the Chief Justice of the United States Roger B. Taney. His postwar career was long and distinguished. He served as Attorney General under President Andrew Johnson from 1868 to 1869, and chief defense counsel in the impeachment trials. He successfully represented a British client in the Alabama Claims cases. From 1877 to 1881, he served as Secretary of State under President Rutherford B. Hayes and from 1885 to 1891, he served as a United States Senator representing New York. He later would die in New York City.

Bio by: Ugaalltheway