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1978 Y.B. 31 (1978)
A Search for Justice Woods

handle is hein.journals/jspcth1978 and id is 39 raw text is: YANKEE FROM GEORGIA A Search For justice THOMAS E. BAYNES, Jr. They also serve who only stand and wait-wait for history to do them justice. (A bad combination of Milton and a pun.) With this article, the YEARBOOK undertakes to focus from time to time on the lesser known members of the Court, particularly in the first century of its history. Justice Wil- liam B. Woods is a good prototype to begin this series.-ED. The history of Southern Justices on the Supreme Court suggests some unique twists of fate. Three of the Justices were cousins, the two Lamars, Joseph Rucker Lamar' and L. O. C. Lamar2 were related to Justice John A. Campbell. Each was appointed from a different Southern State. However, L. Q. C. Lamar is remembered more for his Senatorial career than his tenure on the Court.' But who was Woods? A search of the better known texts on the Court mentions almost nothing. Biographical data is scant.' The whereabouts of his personal papers are unknown. There is no written biography of his tenure on the Court. These factors alone should deter anyone from trying to write on this obscure Justice. Historians of the Court barely recognized his existence,8 but those who did characterized him as medi- ocre. Yet, more than their opinions was the 1970 poll n on Supreme Court Justices by a group of law professors. Woods was rated below average. How could that be? There isn't suffi- cient evidence to support anthing except his appointment, a few cases, and his death. Further, how could all those Southerners, like Campbell, and later L.Q.C. Lamar sup- port someone like Woods who appeared to Woods be so patently unpalatable to men of the Confederacy? My Southern intuition said that if the South was behind Wood's nomina- tion, then the historians and law professors must have been mistaken. Woods was an Ohioian.n Born in a small central Ohio town, he went to Western Re- serve finishing at Yale with honors in 1845. Returning to his hometown he studied law with his future law partner and was admitted to the Bar in 1847. In the latter part of the 1850's, Woods took an active part in politics, an interest he would avoid after the war. While there is some evidence he first chartered his political for- tunes as a Whig, later activities were as a Democrat. First as mayor of his town, then as a member of the Ohio legislature, he was elected speaker of the assembly during his second term. In 1859, the Republicans be- came the majority party. Woods, reelected, was known for his vigorous opposition to the Lincoln Administration. An often told anecdote concerned his adamant resistance to a loan bill which was to finance Ohio's home defense in the event of war with the South. However, when the secession was definite Woods was the one that convinced the opponents that the bill must be passed. With the outbreak of the war, Woods joined the Seventy Six Ohio Regiment as a lieutenant colonel. Involved in numerous actions, he quickly rose to the rank of briga- dier general. Later, Generals Grant, Logan and Sherman joined in recommending him for breveted major general. From Shiloh to Vicksburg, then through Georgia with Sher- man, his participation concluded with the Grand Review of the Union Troops in Wash- ington after the surrender of the Southern forces. Ordered to Mobile, Woods was mus- tered out of the Army in 1866, Woods 31

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