Micajah Woods
American lawyer (1844–1911) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Micajah Woods (May 17, 1844 – March 14, 1911) was a Virginia lawyer, who served as the Commonwealth's Attorney in Charlottesville, Virginia for 41 years, and was a president of The Virginia Bar Association.
Micajah Woods | |
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Born | (1844-05-17)May 17, 1844 |
Died | March 14, 1911(1911-03-14) (aged 66) |
Alma mater | University of Virginia School of Law (LLB) |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Known for | Lawyer of murderer J. Samuel McCue |
Children | Maud Coleman Woods |
Woods began life in Albemarle County, Virginia. He was educated at the Lewisburg Academy, the military school taught by Colonel John Bowie Strange, and the Bloomfield Academy.[1] Woods joined the Confederate Army in August 1861 at the age of seventeen as a volunteer on the staff of John B. Floyd. Not yet of military age, he spent the winter of 1861-62 at the University of Virginia and then joined the 2nd Virginia Cavalry. In 1863, he became a First Lieutenant in Thomas E. Jackson's Battery, Virginia Horse Artillery, and saw action at Gettysburg, New Market, and Cold Harbor.[2]
Woods returned to the University after the war and in 1868 earned a Bachelor of Laws degree. He practiced in Charlottesville and became Commonwealth's Attorney in 1870.[2] In 1872 he was made a member of the board of visitors of the University of Virginia, a position which he held for four years, at the time of his appointment being the youngest member of the board ever selected.[1] Woods served as president of The Virginia Bar Association in 1909.[3] He was a member of the board of visitors of Virginia Tech in 1911.[4]
Woods is remembered locally as the prosecuting attorney in the murder trial of J. Samuel McCue, a three-term Mayor of Charlottesville who was convicted of murdering his wife[5] then became the last man to be hanged in Albemarle County,[6] and as the father of Maud Coleman Woods, the first "Miss America," at least for the Pan-American Exposition of 1901.[2][7][8]