Henry Wilson

Henry Wilson (1812-1875), 18th vice president (1873-1875) of the United States. A native of New Hampshire, Wilson served as an indentured farm laborer in his youth. Subsequently he learned shoemaking and in the late 1830s acquired ownership of a shoe factory in Natick, Massachusetts. In 1840 he was elected to the Massachusetts legislature and became a U.S. senator from Massachusetts in 1855. Having been a member of the Whig, Free-Soil, and Know-Nothing parties, he joined the newly formed Republicans in 1855. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs during the American Civil War, Wilson played an important role in recruiting, equipping, and training Union forces. He was vice president under Ulysses S. Grant.