Wilson, Henry (1812-1875), served as vice president of the United States from 1873 to 1875 under President Ulysses S. Grant. He was a Republican U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to 1873. Wilson, who had strong antislavery views, was chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and a “Radical Republican” during Reconstruction (see Reconstruction ). He was involved in the Credit Mobilier scandal of 1872 (see Credit Mobilier of America ).
Wilson was born Jeremiah Jones Colbath in Farmington, New Hampshire, on Feb. 16, 1812. He served in the Massachusetts legislature in the 1840’s and early 1850’s. Wilson was a member of the Whig Party, the Free Soil Party, and the American (or Know-Nothing) Party before he helped organize the Republican Party in 1854. He died on Nov. 22, 1875.
