Robert White (February 7, 1833 – December 12, 1915) was an American military officer, lawyer, and politician in the U.S. state of West Virginia. White served as Attorney General of West Virginia (1877–1881) and served two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing Ohio County in 1885 and 1891.
Born in 1833 in Romney, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), White was the son of Hampshire County Court Clerk John Baker White and his second wife, Frances Ann Streit White. He was educated at the Romney Classical Institute, worked in his father's clerking office for six years, and studied jurisprudence under John White Brockenbrough at his Lexington Law School. White was admitted to the bar in 1854 and practiced law in Romney.
Prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War, White was commissioned a captain of the Frontier Riflemen, which later became Company I of the 13th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel A. P. Hill in 1861. In 1864, he was commissioned as a colonel in command of the 23rd Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment and served in that capacity until the unit disbanded in April 1865. Following the war, White returned to Romney and practiced law with John Jeremiah Jacob. He devoted his efforts to bringing economic development to the South Branch Potomac River Valley, which had been desolated during the war. White was one of nine members to revive the Romney Literary Society following the war, and in 1870, the organization successfully secured the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind for Romney. He served three terms on the school's board of regents. White also established the South Branch Railway Company and was its president until 1877.
White was elected as West Virginia's attorney general in 1876 and served from 1877 until 1881. He was charged with several important lawsuits, among the most prominent being the state's pursuance of tax liabilities from railroad companies. White argued the case before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, which ruled in White's favor and ultimately enriched the West Virginia state treasury. He successfully secured the extradition of Elihu Gregg from Pennsylvania after Gregg was accused of burning the Preston County courthouse and fled. In Freeland v. Williams, White argued in favor of the rights of former Confederate soldiers before the Supreme Court of the United States and secured a favorable verdict. Following his tenure as attorney general, White served two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates. In 1885, he represented the state at the Washington Monument's dedication. White subsequently served two terms as the city solicitor of Wheeling, and was later counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.
In his later life, White was involved in Confederate memorial activities. He was a member of the Confederate Memorial Association board of trustees, the chief officer of the West Virginia Division of the United Confederate Veterans, and served as commander with the rank of major-general in the national organization. White was chairman of the construction committee for the Confederate Memorial Institute's Battle Abbey in Richmond. He was a Freemason and served as Grand Master of the state of West Virginia in 1875. White attended the 100th anniversary of the burial of George Washington in 1899 and was chosen by the Grand Lodge of Virginia as the Grand Marshal of the Masonic ceremonies while attending the observance at Mount Vernon. He also became a noted lecturer and orator in his later years. Following a prolonged illness, White died in Wheeling in 1915.
Early life and education
Robert White was born on February 7, 1833, in Romney, Virginia, part of present-day West Virginia. White was the eldest son and child of Hampshire County court clerk John Baker White (1794–1862) and his second wife Frances Ann Streit White (c. 1809–1879) and a grandson of prominent Virginia judge Robert White (1759–1831). He was likely named for his grandfather, Judge Robert White.
White had three older half sisters from his father's first marriage to Alcinda Louisa Tapscott. Through his father's second marriage to his mother Frances Ann Streit, White had five brothers including Christian Streit White, and four sisters.
White obtained his primary education in local common schools, including the Romney Classical Institute, which was presided over by Dr. William Henry Foote. Beginning at the age of 14, he worked in his father's Clerk of the County Court office for about six years. Following his law apprenticeship under his father, White studied jurisprudence under John White Brockenbrough at his Lexington Law School in Lexington. Following the completion of his legal studies, White was admitted to the bar on March 30, 1854, and immediately began practicing law in Romney. Along with his relative Alfred P. White, his father, and his brother Christian Streit White, Robert White became an active and influential member of the Hampshire County bar. Prior to the American Civil War, White was enrolled as a member of the Romney Literary Society.
Confederate Army service In 1860, following John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859, a Virginia uniformed volunteer military company known as the Frontier Riflemen was formed with White as commanding officer in the rank of captain. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Governor John Letcher ordered the Frontier Riflemen to report to Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson at Harpers Ferry. White and his unit marched to Harpers Ferry on May 18, 1861. He and his unit traveled north on the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad mainline at Green Spring, then to Harpers Ferry. Following their arrival, White's company was reassigned as Company I of the 13th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment commanded by Colonel A. P. Hill. The company marched from Harpers Ferry to Winchester and returned to Romney in June 1861, at which time they occupied the town for several days.
A detachment under White's command, consisting of White's Company I, Company K, and the 1st Tennessee, were then sent to New Creek to destroy railroad bridges. The detachment successfully burned the bridges, after which it engaged in a skirmish with the Cumberland Home Guards. White's forces defeated the guards and captured two cannons, their first trophies of war. Colonel Hill marched to Winchester, and Company I then came under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston.
During the Winter of 1861–62, White was reassigned to the ordnance department and served in that capacity until 1863, when he was authorized to raise and command a battalion of cavalry. White formed the 41st Battalion Virginia Cavalry in September 1863 and continued to serve as the battalion's commanding officer until seven of its companies were consolidated with two companies of O'Ferrall's Battalion Virginia Cavalry to form the 23rd Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment in April 1864. White was then commissioned as a colonel in command of the cavalry regiment and served in that capacity until the unit disbanded in April 1865. White remained in the service of the Confederate States Army until May 14, 1865. White had served with ability throughout the war, and saw action across Virginia.
During the war, White's father John Baker White left Romney with his wife and youngest children and traveled to Richmond to work in the Confederate States Department of the Treasury within the government of the President of the Confederate States of America. However, White's father died soon after his arrival in Richmond on October 9, 1862.
Reconstruction efforts Following the war, White returned to Romney. Since his father had died, he became the family patriarch and resumed practicing law to support them. In 1865, he entered into a practice with John Jeremiah Jacob until Jacob began his tenure as Governor of West Virginia in 1871. White then expanded his law practice and it became the largest of its kind in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. He continued his law practice until 1877, when he became Attorney General of West Virginia.
White devoted his efforts to bringing economic development to the South Branch Potomac River Valley, which had been devastated during the course of the American Civil War and remained undeveloped during the Reconstruction Era. In an effort to rebuild his hometown, Romney, following the war, White sought to first memorialize the Confederate war dead. Early in the Spring of 1866, a meeting was held at White's home in Romney with his wife Ellen E. Vass White, his brother Christian Streit White, Elizabeth "Bessie" Jane Schultze (later Mrs. Christian Streit White), and his sister Frances "Fannie" Ann Armstrong White (later Mrs. Samuel Lightfoot Flournoy). Following this meeting, an inspired group of Hampshire County women assembled and adopted a constitution for the Confederate Memorial Association, of which White's wife served as a president. Through the association's efforts, the first decoration of Confederate graves at Indian Mound Cemetery took place on June 1, 1866. The association sponsored the construction of the Confederate Memorial at Indian Mound Cemetery, which was dedicated on September 26, 1867.
On May 15, 1869, nine members of the Romney Literary Society, including White, commenced an effort to revive the society's activities and reconstitute its library, which had been destroyed during the war. When the state of West Virginia first founded an institution for deaf and blind students, White helped to pass the legislative act that established the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. On April 20, 1870, during a meeting of the schools' Board of Regents, in Wheeling, White and Andrew Wodrow Kercheval were sent by the Romney Literary Society to make a formal offer of the Romney Classical Institute buildings and grounds to the board. Through White's efforts, the school was established on the former campus of the Romney Classical Institute in Romney, where it remains as of 2015.
White was subsequently appointed to serve three terms on the schools' Board of Regents. White was appointed to the board of regents' first (1870), second (1871–1873), and third (1874–1876) terms, and served as its secretary each time. In his report to Governor William E. Stevenson at the close of the institutions' first school year, in 1871, White wrote: "The board has to express its entire satisfaction with the present flourishing condition of the institution. The discipline, the progress of the pupils in their studies and their general improvement, deserve the highest commendation and entitle our deaf and dumb and blind institution to the unstinted patronage of the state."
In addition to his appointments to the schools' Board of Regents, White was also appointed by the West Virginia Legislature to the state boards of trustees of Capon Springs and Berkeley Springs. He resigned his position on the board of trustees of Berkeley Springs, but he remained a member of Capon Springs's board until at least 1897.
White also created a railway line linking Romney with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad mainline at Green Spring. He established the South Branch Railway Company to accomplish this and served as the company's president for several years until relocating to Wheeling in 1877. Through his efforts, the means and finances were raised to construct the railway.
Political career
Attorney General of West Virginia