Henry Dickerson McDaniel (September 4, 1836 July 25, 1926) was the 52nd Governor of Georgia from 1883 to 1886.

Born in Monroe, Georgia

Monroe, Georgia

Monroe is a city in Walton County, Georgia, United States. The population was 13,381 at the 2008 census. The city is the county seat of Walton County, Georgia.-Geography:Monroe is located at ....

, to Ira McDaniel, one of the first professors of Mercer University

Mercer University

Mercer University is an independent, private, coeducational university with a Baptist heritage located in the U.S. state of Georgia. Mercer is the only university of its size in the United States that offers programs in eleven diversified fields of study: liberal arts, business, education, music,...

, McDaniel graduated at the head of his class in law at Mercer and established a practice in his home town. He was the youngest delegate to Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

's succession convention in 1861, and later served in the Confederate Army. He first attracted attention during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 for taking command of the 11th Georgia Infantry after the death of his officers at the Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...

. Eight days after the battle, he was shot by a Union soldier at Funkstown, Maryland

Funkstown, Maryland

Funkstown is a town in Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population was 983 at the 2000 census.-History:Originally were sold to Henry Funk by Frederick Calvert in 1754 and settled as Jerusalem.Funck’s Jerusalem Town...

, and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.

He was a member of the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 and after the war entered Georgia state politics, serving in its House

Georgia House of Representatives

The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly of the U.S. state of Georgia.-Composition:...

 and Senate

Georgia Senate

The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly .-Composition:According to the state constitution of 1983, this body is to be composed of no more than 56 members elected for two-year terms. Current state law provides for 56 members...

, ultimately becoming governor at the death of Alexander Stephens

Alexander Stephens

Alexander Hamilton Stephens was an American politician from Georgia. He was Vice President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He also served as a U.S...

 in 1883. He served out Stephens' term and won a two year term of his own in 1884. During his administration, he established the Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...

and began construction of the new State Capitol

Georgia State Capitol

The Georgia State Capitol, in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States, is an architecturally and historically significant building. It has been named a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the main office building of Georgia's government...

.

After his political career, he returned to Monroe to practice law. His home, the McDaniel-Tichenor House

McDaniel-Tichenor House

The McDaniel-Tichenor House, located in Monroe, Georgia, United States was built in 1887 for retiring Governor Henry McDaniel. Originally designed by Athens, Georgia architect William Winstead Thomas in the then-popular Victorian Italianate Villa style, the house was extensively remodeled in the...

, was listed with the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1980.

Further reading

• Georgia, and Henry D. McDaniel. Message of Gov. Henry D. McDaniel, to the General Assembly of Georgia, November 1884. Atlanta, Ga: Jas. P. Harrison & Co. [State Printers], 1885.
• Herringshaw, Thomas William
  Thomas William Herringshaw
  Thomas William Herringshaw was an American journalist, publisher, genealogist and biographical author, best known for editing and publishing biographical reference works.-Biography:...
  
  . McDaniel, Henry Dickerson. Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography : Contains Thirty-Five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States; Illustrated with Three Thousand Vignette Portraits. v4.
• McDaniel, Henry D., Hester Felker McDaniel, and Anita B. Sams. With Unabated Trust: Major Henry McDaniel's Love Letters from Confederate Battlefields As Treasured in Hester McDaniel's Bonnet Box. [s.l.]: Historical Society of Walton County, 1977.
• "McDaniel, Henry Dickerson: Thirty-Fourth Governor of Georgia". National Cyclopedia of American Biography. 1. 1898.
• McDaniel, Henry D. Henry Dickerson McDaniel Letter. 1894.
• McDaniel, Henry D., et al. Henry Dickerson McDaniel Directorship Records. 1870.
• McDaniel, Henry D., et al. Henry Dickerson McDaniel Family Papers. 1838.
• University of Georgia, and Henry D. McDaniel. Statement from Ex-Governor McDaniel, Chairman, of the Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia, As to Questions between That Board and the G.N. and I. College. Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1917.