Prominent Louisiana Statesman Achieved Unusual Career
by Morris Raphael
One of the most prominent and colorful statesmen to hail from the bayou country of Louisiana was Charles Magill Conrad. Described by historians as "a man of small stature who abounded with energy," Conrad achieved a truly unusual career. He was an outstanding attorney, a U.S. Senator, a U.S. Representative, Secretary of War, a representative to the Confederate Congress, Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, winner of a duel and was married to the grand niece of the first president of the United States.
Charles Conrad was born in Winchester, Frederick County, Virginia on Dec. 24, 1804. His father, Frederick Conrad, moved his family to the Mississippi territory in 1809 and a few years later settled on the banks of Bayou Teche near New Iberia where he became a prominent sugars cane planter. Frederick was of German extraction, his ancestors having migrated to the Shenandoah Valley in the early eighteenth century.
Charles' mother was Frances Thruston Conrad, who was the daughter of Charles Myann Thruston, an Episcopal minister in Virginia and a colonel in the Revolutionary Army. Rev. Thruston descended from English stock that settled in Virginia in the seventeenth century. He moved his family to St. Mary Parish, Louisiana in 1808.
Conrad received his basic education in a New Orleans school maintained by a Dr. Huld who was said to have been the founder of the first English school in that city. Later he studied law in the office of Abner L. Duncan in the Crescent City and started out as a practicing attorney in 1828. His brother Frederick also established a law practice in the city and the two became recognized as distinguished members of the New Orleans bar. Another brother Alfred became the cashier of the Gaslight Bank at Franklin.
There were four sisters: Mary, the wife of David Weeks who built the famous "Shadows" of New Iberia in 1838; Frances Elizabeth, the wife of Winthrop Hoarding; Sidney Ann, the wife of William T. Palfrey, Sr.; and Ann Alexander, who became the second wife of Dr. John Towles. Dr. Towles was reported to have been the largest slave owner in St. Mary Parish in the year 1813.
Charles Magill Conrad then became actively involved in politics and in the 1828 presidential campaign he went all out in the support of Andrew Jackson, a democrat. However he refused to follow "Ole Hickory" in the 1832 re-election campaign because Jackson and his party had opposed the establishment of a national bank. Conrad represented several banks and rich corporations in the New Orleans area and it was felt by many that his personal interests influenced his political thinking.
Conrad then switched over to the Whig party which was very strong in Louisiana during this period and before too long became a high ranking member. He was elected to the Louisiana State Legislature for several terms and when Alexander Mouton resigned from the U.S. Senate in April of '42, Conrad was appointed to fill the vacancy. But he was defeated by the legislature for re-election in January, 1843, and was out of office in March.
This did not slow the career of Conrad for in the following year he was named as a delegate to the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention, and was later elected as a member of the Louisiana delegation to the Whig national convention in Philadelphia. It was reported that Conrad played a prominent role in having Zachary Taylor selected as the Whig nominee for the presidency of the United States. Taylor won over his Democratic opponent, Lewis Cass, and to this day has been the only Louisianian to serve in this, the highest office of the land.
In 1848, Conrad was elected to Congress representing the Louisiana 2nd District. During this session of Congress, the chief issue before that body was the admission of California as a free state. But Conrad opposed the measure except as one of the conditions of a general compromise on the subject of slavery. However, before this was agreed upon, the little dynamic politician from the bayou country was appointed by President Millard Fillmore (who succeeded to the presidency on the death of Taylor)to serve as Secretary of War beginning in August of 1850. This was perhaps the climax in the career of Charles Magill Conrad. He retired from that position at the close of Fillmore's administration in March of '53, and returned to New Orleans to resume his law practice.
In the political campaign of 1860, he was reported to be a member of the Constitutional Union Party and was appointed as a delegate from New Orleans to a state convention in June to ratify the Bell and Everett national ticket and nominate candidates for state offices. When the War Between the States broke out, Conrad played an important political role in the Confederacy, serving first as a delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress that met in Montgomery, Alabama in February, 1861 and later as a Louisiana Representative to the first and second Confederate Congresses, 1862-1864. He was also listed as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army.
When the war ended, Conrad fled to Mexico and did not return until after the amnesty act of 1872 was enacted by congress. His estate was confiscated when he left the country, but he regained possession after waging a successful fight in the U.S. Court.
Conrad was said to be intense in his convictions and was strictly dedicated to any cause he supported. As a young man he was quite belligerent in his disposition and fought a duel with a Dr. Hunt who was the brother of the prominent attorney Randall Hunt. Here Conrad emerged as the victor, killing his antagonist.
He was married to Angela Lewis of "Woodlawn," Fairfax County, Virginia, the granddaughter of Fielding Lewis and Elizabeth Washington, sister of the first president. Angela is buried at Mt. Vernon beside the grave of her great-uncle, George Washington.
Conrad died in New Orleans on Feb. 11, 1878 while he was testifying in the federal circuit court and was buried in the Girod cemetery. At the time of his death he was listed as having two sons, Charles M. Conrad of New Orleans and Lawrence Lewis Conrad of Baltimore.
Nearly a century has elapsed since his death, and it is regrettable that today there are very few people who know of this man's outstanding achievements as a public leader. We feel that it is certainly fitting at this time to bring into focus the career of this rare individual who could probably be regarded as the most influential Louisianian of his time.
[following is caption for photo of Conrad portrait]
This portrait of Charles Magill Conrad hangs on the wall in the antebellum home of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Sutter, Hwy 90, East of Franklin. Conrad, a dynamic personality who was said to have been quite influential in shaping Louisiana history during the pre-civil war period, is an ancestor of Mrs. Sutter's children.
[following is caption for photo of Washington family cemetery at Mt. Vernon]
The grave of Angela, the wife of Charles Magill Conrad, as it appears today at Mr. Vernon, Virginia. The plot is along side of that of her great uncle, General George Washington. The entrance to Washington's grave site is marked with the two American flags at the left. Chiseled on the front face of the monument over Mrs. Conrad's grave is the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of M.E.A. Conrad, wife of Charles M. Conrad of New Orleans -- Daughter of L'aw [Lawrence] and Eleanor P. Lewis and grand niece of Gen. George Washington -- Born April 1, 1813 at 'Woodlawn', Fairfax County, West. Va., and died Sept. 21, 1839 at Pass Christian, Miss. in the 27th year of her age."
