Henry Wilson and the Civil War

Born in 1812, Henry Wilson was an American general, senator, and later vice president who played a key role in the political lead up to the Civil War, handling military affairs during the war, and fighting for civil rights for all Americans during Reconstruction. Sold by his family into indentured servitude until the age of 21, he was central in forming the Free Soil party in 1848 to fight slavery’s expansion. Wilson was elected to the US Senate in 1855 at age 43, and remained a senator until he was elected as Ulysses Grant’s Vice President in 1872, and and his help was central to the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.

Lincoln Anniballi is a lifelong resident of Natick Massachusetts, the home town of Henry Wilson. He grew up in the Henry Wilson Historic District, lived on the same road Wilson did, drove past the Henry Wilson Shoe Shop every day, and even went to Wilson Middle School, yet knew very little about the person whose name was all over town. In 2020 Lincoln began researching Wilson’s life and in 2021 got the idea to turn his research into a biographical podcast on the life of Henry Wilson.