William Ballard Preston

"William B. Preston" redirects here. For the presiding bishop of the LDS Church, see William B. Preston (Mormon). For other persons named William Preston, see William Preston (disambiguation).
William B. Preston
Confederate States Senator
from Virginia
In office
February 18, 1862 – November 16, 1862
Preceded by Constituency established
Succeeded by Allen T. Caperton
19th United States Secretary of the Navy
In office
March 8, 1849 – July 22, 1850
President Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Preceded by John Y. Mason
Succeeded by William A. Graham
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 12th district
In office
November 25, 1847 – March 4, 1849
Preceded by Augustus A. Chapman
Succeeded by Henry A. Edmundson
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office
1830-1832
1844-1845
Member of the Virginia Senate
In office
1840-1844
Personal details
Born (1805-11-25)November 25, 1805
Blacksburg, Virginia, US
Died November 16, 1862(1862-11-16) (aged 56)
Blacksburg, Virginia, US
Political party Whig
Spouse(s) Lucinda "Lucy" Redd Preston
Alma mater Hampden–Sydney College
University of Virginia

William Ballard Preston (November 25, 1805 – November 16, 1862) was a United States political figure. He served as the U.S. Secretary of the Navy between 1849 and 1850. He is also the cousin of William Campbell Preston and William Preston.

Biography

The Zachary Taylor Administration, 1849 Daguerreotype by Matthew Brady
From left to right: William B. Preston, Thomas Ewing, John M. Clayton, Zachary Taylor, William M. Meredith, George W. Crawford, Jacob Collamer and Reverdy Johnson, (1849).

Born in 1805 at Smithfield Plantation in Blacksburg, Virginia, Preston entered Hampden–Sydney College in 1821, where he was active in literary and forensic activities. Graduating in 1824, Preston studied law at the University of Virginia and was admitted to the bar in 1826. In 1831 he became the Commonwealth's Attorney for Floyd County, Virginia. He married Lucinda Redd of Henry County, Virginia.[1]

The young attorney soon entered politics as a Whig and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1830. During the 1831–1832 session, he took an active part in the campaign to abolish slavery. Then there followed an eight-year hiatus in his political activities during which he returned to the practice of law. In 1840, he was elected to the State Senate, where he served from 1840 to 1844, before returning to the House of Delegates. In 1846, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.

In March 1849, President Zachary Taylor appointed the Preston Secretary of the Navy. During Preston's tenure in that office, the United States Navy acquired new duties in the course of America's westward expansion and acquisition of California. Trade and commerce in the Pacific Ocean beckoned, and the Stars and Stripes flew from the masts of Navy ships in Chinese waters, while the shores of Japan, then unopened to the west, presented a tantalizing possibility for commercial intercourse. The Navy also was progressing through a technological transition, especially in the area of moving from sails to steam propulsion, and with the improvements in gunnery and naval ordnance. Upon the death of President Taylor, new President Millard Fillmore reorganized the Cabinet and appointed William Alexander Graham Secretary of the Navy. Preston retired from office and withdrew from politics and public life.

Resuming his private law practice, Preston acquired a reputation for being a fine defense lawyer before being sent to France in 1858 to negotiate for the establishment of a line of commercial steamers to operate between Le Havre and Norfolk. The mission to France progressed well, and the project appeared promising until it was brought to naught by the American Civil War.

As states in the lower South seceded from the Union, the pressure mounted upon Virginia to do likewise. Moderate sentiment still held sway through 1860; but, early in 1861, increasing tensions forced Virginians to consider secession. On February 13, 1861, the secession convention met in Richmond and numbered William B. Preston amongst the delegates.

As the Confederacy was established and the United States divided into two hostile camps, both sides moved steadily toward open conflict. A special delegation, composed of William B. Preston, Alexander H.H. Stuart, and George W. Randolph, traveled to Washington, D.C. where they met President Abraham Lincoln on April 12. Finding the President firm in his resolve to hold the Federal forts then in the South, the three men returned to Richmond on April 15.

With the news of the firing on Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12, 1861, conservative and moderate strength in the secessionist convention melted away. On April 16, convinced that secession was inevitable, William B. Preston submitted, in secret session, an ordinance of secession. Supported 88 to 55, the Preston Resolution passed, and Virginia left the Union.

Elected C.S. Senator from Virginia in the Confederate States Congress, he served in that legislative body until his death at Smithfield Plantation in 1862. He is interred at the Preston Cemetery in Blacksburg, Virginia, near Smithfield Plantation.

USS William B. Preston (DD-344) was named for him.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History & Heritage Command.

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Augustus Chapman		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 12th congressional district
1847–1849 		Succeeded by
Henry Edmundson
Political offices
Preceded by
John Mason		 United States Secretary of the Navy
1849–1850 		Succeeded by
William Graham
Confederate States Senate
New constituency Confederate States Senator (Class 2) from Virginia
1862
Served alongside: Robert Hunter		 Succeeded by
Allen Caperton
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