author
Richard W. (Richard Wigginton) Thompson
1809–1900
A self-made lawyer and politician from Indiana, he rose from teaching school and studying law at night to become a member of Congress and Secretary of the Navy under Rutherford B. Hayes. His long public career touched state politics, national office, and the debates that shaped 19th-century America.
1 Audiobook
The Footprints of the Jesuits
by Richard W. (Richard Wigginton) Thompson
About the author
Born in Culpeper County, Virginia, on June 9, 1809, Richard Wigginton Thompson moved west as a young man, first to Kentucky and then to Indiana. In Lawrence County he taught school, worked in trade, and studied law at night before being admitted to the bar in 1834.
Thompson went on to build a prominent political career in Indiana. He served in the Indiana legislature, represented Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 1840s, and later became a leading figure in the state's Republican politics.
He is best remembered nationally for serving as Secretary of the Navy in President Rutherford B. Hayes's cabinet from 1877 to 1880. Thompson died in Terre Haute, Indiana, on February 9, 1900, after a public life that stretched across much of the 19th century.