John Seashoal Witcher

John Seashoal Witcher (July 15, 1839 – July 8, 1906) was an American farmer, soldier, and Republican politician from Cabell County, Virginia (now West Virginia), who played a notable role in the creation of the new Union state during the American Civil War and later served one term in the United States House of Representatives from West Virginia’s 3rd congressional district. He subsequently pursued a long career in federal service and in the Regular Army. He is sometimes confused with his first cousin, Confederate Colonel Vincent A. “Clawhammer” Witcher, a lawyer from nearby Wayne County who commanded the 34th Virginia Cavalry Battalion.

Witcher was born in Cabell County, Virginia, to farmer Jeremiah Witcher and his wife Polly. He was the only son in a family that included an elder sister, Emily (born 1838), and younger sisters America (born 1844) and Valeria (born 1846). His paternal grandmother Sarah also lived in the household until some time before 1860. Raised on the family farm, he attended local private schools and assisted with agricultural work during his youth. By the time of the 1860 census, Witcher identified himself as a farmer; the household then also included a 25‑year‑old day laborer, indicating a modest but active farming operation in the years immediately preceding the Civil War.

Witcher married Mahaley F. Witcher, who was four years younger than he. The couple had four children: a daughter, Valera, born in 1862, and three sons, William V. Witcher (born 1863), P. Sheridan Witcher (born 1865), and John T. Witcher (born 1867). As the sectional crisis deepened, Witcher began to move into public life. In 1861, while still a young man and before the formal separation of West Virginia from Virginia, he was elected clerk of the circuit court of Cabell County, a position that placed him at the center of local legal and political affairs during the turbulent opening phase of the Civil War.

On December 13, 1862, Witcher enlisted in the Union Army as a first lieutenant in the 3rd West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, aligning himself with the pro‑Union movement in the trans‑Allegheny counties that would soon form the state of West Virginia. He advanced rapidly through the ranks: he was promoted to captain on September 8, 1863, to major on May 23, 1864, and to lieutenant colonel on May 6, 1865. He was honorably mustered out of volunteer service on June 30, 1865. In recognition of his wartime service, President Andrew Johnson on March 18, 1867, nominated Witcher for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865; the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 28, 1867. In addition to his brevet rank, he was regarded as a key Union officer from the region, helping to secure and defend the new state during the conflict.

With the war concluded, Witcher quickly transitioned into state politics. Cabell County voters elected him to the West Virginia House of Delegates, where he served in 1865, participating in the early legislative development of the newly admitted state. He was subsequently chosen as the third Secretary of State of West Virginia, holding that office from 1867 to 1869. In these roles he was involved in the reconstruction of civil government, the organization of state institutions, and the consolidation of Unionist political control in West Virginia during the immediate postwar years.

In 1868, Witcher was elected as a Republican to the Forty‑first Congress from West Virginia’s 3rd congressional district and served from March 4, 1869, to March 3, 1871. During his single term in the U.S. House of Representatives, he sat as part of the Republican majority that oversaw key phases of Reconstruction policy, representing a district that had been shaped by wartime loyalties and the recent creation of the state. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870, which ended his brief tenure in elective federal office but led to a series of important appointed positions in the federal government.

After leaving Congress, Witcher remained in public service. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him collector of internal revenue for the third district of West Virginia, a post he held from 1871 to 1876, administering federal tax laws in a period of expanding national revenue systems. He later served as a United States pension agent in Washington, D.C., from 1878 to 1880, overseeing the distribution of federal pensions to veterans and their families at a time when Civil War pension administration was becoming a major federal responsibility. In 1880 he entered the Regular Army as a major and paymaster, beginning a new phase of military service focused on financial administration. He continued in that capacity until his retirement in 1899 and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant colonel on the retired list on April 23, 1904, reflecting long and honorable service in the Army’s pay department.

In the later years of his life, Witcher moved west. He relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1891, while still in federal service, and made that city his home during and after his Army career. John Seashoal Witcher died in Salt Lake City on July 8, 1906. In recognition of his military and public service, he was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, where his grave stands among those of many other Union officers and federal officials of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras.