William Porcher Miles

Who was William Porcher Miles?

William Porcher Miles was among the ardent States' Rights advocates, supporters of slavery, and Southern secessionists who came to be known as the "Fire-Eaters." Born in South Carolina, he showed little early interest in politics and his early career included the study of law and a tenure as a mathematics professor at the College of Charleston from 1843 to 1855.

In the late 1840s as sectional issues roiled South Carolina politics, Miles began to speak up on sectional issues. He opposed both the Wilmot Proviso and the Compromise of 1850. Miles would, from this point on, look at any northern efforts to restrict slavery as justification for secession.

Miles was elected as mayor of Charleston in 1855 and served in the United States House of Representatives from 1857 until South Carolina seceded in December 1860. He was a member of the state secession convention and a representative from South Carolina at the Confederate Convention in Montgomery, Alabama that established the provisional government and constitution for the Confederate States of America. He represented his state in the Confederate House of Representatives during the American Civil War.