Person:William Trescot (1)

See Also

• William Henry Trescott to William Porcher Miles, 4 Dec 1853, William Porcher Miles Papers, SHC., Primary quality.
• Olsberg, Robert Nicholas. "A Government of Class and Race: William Henry Trescot and the South Carolina Chivalry, 1860-1865" (Ph.D. diss., University of South Carolina, 1972), Secondary quality.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 William Henry Trescot, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
2.   Biography, in Johnson, Allen. Dictionary of American Biography. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons)
   p 919.

   Trescott, WILLIAM HENRY, of Beaufort, S.C., b. Charleston, S.C., 1822. Sec. of legation to Eng. in 1852-3 ; under-sec. of state at Washington, D.C., 1857-60. Author of "Diplomacy of the Amer. Revolution;" "A Few Thoughts on the Foreign Relations of the U.S.," 12mo, 1849 ; "Administration of Washington and Adams," 1857 ; "American View of the Eastern Question," 1854 ; Address before the S.C. Hist. Society, 1859.

3.   Biography, in Snowden, Yates, and Harry Gardner Cutler. History of South Carolina. (Chicago [Illinois]: Lewis Pub. Co., 1920).

   p 112 -
   ... William Henry Trescot, who was brn at Charleston November 10, 1822, and died at Pendleton, South Carolina, May 4, 1898, was a South Carolinian whose reputation belongs largely to the nation. He was conspicuous in the diplomatic affairs of the United States, and at the time of the war between the sections was prominent in the Confederate government.
   
   His parents were Henry and Sarah (McCrady) Trescot, the former a native of South Carolina, a son of Edward and Katharine (Bocquet) Trescot Edward Trescot was born at Cornwall, England, and his wife was of Huguenot ancestry. Their remains now repose in the old Huguenot Church in Charleston.
   
   William Henry Trescot graduated from the College of Charleston in 1840, taking first honors. He studied law at Harvard, was admitted to the bar in 1843, and while practicing law he also managed a cotton plantation. His talents well fitted him for public life and particularly those departments above the sphere of ordinary politics. In Decemberj 1852, he became United States secretary of legation in London. He was assistant secretary of state in the Federal Government in i860, but resigned when South Carolina seceded. On account of the illness and absence of General Cass he was made secretary under warrant by the president June 20th, and served as such until the return of General Cass. He was a member of the Legislature in 1862, 1864 and 1866, and during the war was on the staff of General Ripley and also a member of the executive council. He was one of the revisers of the state code. After the war he went to Washington as a commissioner to represent his home state in matters arising under the reconstruction act. In 1875 he began the practice of law in Washington, but in 1877 again entered the public service of the United States as counsel for this country before the Fishery Commission of Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1880 he was sent as one of the plenipotentiaries to China to revise the treaties with the American Government. In 1881 he was the chief representative concluding the negotiations regarding rights of the United States on the Isthmus of Panama. In 1881 he was a special envoy to Peru, Chili and Bolivia, then at war, and in 1882 he served as plenipotentiary with General Grant to negotiate a commercial treaty with Mexico. His later years were spent in the practice of law at Washington, where he also acted as the agent of the State of South Carolina in settling questions growing out of the war.
   
   Among his writings besides numerous addresses were: "Thoughts on the Foreign Policy of the United States," 1894; "Diplomacy of the Revolution," 1852; "The Diplomatic System of the United States," 1853 : "An American View of the Eastern Question," 1854; "Diplomatic History of the Administration of Washington and Adams," 1857; "Memoirs of Gen. John Pettigrew," 1870.
   
   After retiring from Washington Mr. Trescot spent his last years on his plantation at Pendleton, South Carolina. ...

4.   Biography, in Moltke-Hansen, David. "Wiliam Henry Trescott," in American Historians, 1607-1865, ed. Clyde N. Wilson, Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 30 (Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1984), 311-13.
5. ↑ Family Recorded, in Leiding, Harriette Kershaw. Charleston, historic and romantic. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1931)
   p 300.
6. ↑ Grave Recorded, in Find A Grave.

   [Includes headstone photo]