Nicholls, Francis Redding Tillou

Nicholls, Francis Redding Tillou, 1834–1912, American politician, b. Donaldsonville, La. At the outbreak of the Civil War he helped organize a company of Confederate volunteers and through active service rose to the rank of major general. He resumed his former law practice after the war and in 1876 was nominated for governor by the Democrats in a desperate effort to end the carpetbag rule in Louisiana. He was thus involved in the disputed state and presidential election returns of 1876 and shared in negotiations that placed him in the governorship and swung the electoral votes to Rutherford B. Hayes. A conservative, Nicholls served with ability. He retired to private life in 1881 but in 1887 ran for governor again as the foe of the notorious Louisiana Lottery. The destruction of the lottery was the chief event of his second administration. He was (1892–1911) a state supreme court justice.