James Louis Petigru (1789-1865) was a noted South Carolina lawyer (he was head of the South Carolina Bar for forty years), and a leading Unionist in the period leading up to the Civil War. Born in Abbeville, he attended Willington Academy and later studied law at South Carolina College. He served as Attorney General of the state from 1822-1830, and in the state House of Representatives, where he was a strong opponent of the Nullification Ordinance. In 1860, he strenuously opposed southern nationalism and secession, but he died before the war had vindicated his position. Portrait by Thomas Sully (1783-1872), painted in 1842.
Courtesy of the Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association.
