Francis Harrison Pierpont

Who was Francis Harrison Pierpont?

Francis Harrison Pierpont, called the "Father of West Virginia," was an American lawyer, politician, and Governor of the Union-controlled parts of Virginia during the Civil War. After the war, he was the Governor of all of Virginia during the early years of Reconstruction. In recognition of his significance to its state history, in 1910 the state of West Virginia donated a marble statue of Pierpont as its second contribution to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.