William H. Wadsworth Explained

William H. Wadsworth
State:Kentucky
District:9th
Term Start:March 4, 1885
Term End:March 3, 1887
Predecessor:Laban T. Moore
Successor:Samuel McKee
Term Start1:March 4, 1861
Term End1:March 3, 1865
Predecessor1:William Wirt Culbertson
Successor1:George M. Thomas
Office2:Member of the Kentucky Senate
Term2:1853–1856
Birth Date:4 July 1821
Birth Place:Maysville, Kentucky, U.S.
Death Place:Maysville, Kentucky, U.S.
Restingplace:Maysville Cemetery
Party:Unionist
Republican
Alma Mater:Augusta College
Profession:Lawyer
Signature:William H. Wadsworth sig.jpg
Signature Alt:W. H. Wadsworth
Allegiance: Union
Branch: Union Army
Rank: Colonel
Battles:Battle of Ivy Mountain (American Civil War)

William Henry Wadsworth (July 4, 1821 – April 2, 1893) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky.

Born in Maysville, Kentucky, Wadsworth attended town and county private schools.He studied law and graduated from Augusta College, Bracken County, Kentucky, in 1841.He was admitted to the bar in 1844 and commenced practice in Maysville, Kentucky.He served as member of the Kentucky State Senate from 1853 to 1856.He served as presidential elector on the Constitutional Union ticket in 1860.

Wadsworth was elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1865). His vote on the Thirteenth Amendment is recorded as nay. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1864.

During the Civil War Wadsworth served as aide to General Nelson, with the rank of colonel, at the Battle of Ivy Mountain.He was appointed United States commissioner to Mexico, under the treaty of Washington for the adjustment of claims, by President Grant in 1869.

Wadsworth was elected as a Republican to the Forty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1887).He was not a candidate for renomination in 1886.He resumed the practice of law.He died in Maysville, Kentucky, April 2, 1893.He was interred in Maysville Cemetery.