McCardle, William H., 1815-1893

William H. McCardle was a writer and newspaper editor famous for his challenges to Reconstruction policies.

Born on June 1, 1815, in Maysville, Kentucky, McCardle established himself as a newspaper editor in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1839 when he became part owner of the Vicksburg Daily Whig, Mississippi’s first daily newspaper. He sold that newspaper three years later, in 1842, but continued to be heavily involved in journalism, including owning the Weekly True Southron in the late 1850s. McCardle served as a Confederate officer during the Civil War—and was frequently referred to as colonel or general late in life—but he came to greater fame after the Civil War as an outspoken critic of Republican Reconstruction. On November 1, 1867, federal military authorities arrested McCardle for publishing highly critical articles against U.S. officials in the Vicksburg Herald and charged him with four crimes under the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867: disturbing the peace, inciting insurrection, libel, and impeding reconstruction. He petitioned the civilian court for habeas corpus (a challenge over his confinement), but the United States District Court for Mississippi deferred to the military tribunal. McCardle then appealed his case to the United States Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court heard McCardle’s case, but before the justices rendered a decision the U.S. Congress rejected the Court’s jurisdiction over the case, according to Article III, Second 2 of the U.S. Constitution. McCardle remained imprisoned for three years, before military authorities released him without ever holding a trial.

Late in life McCardle co-authored a comprehensive history Mississippi with former governor Robert Lowry. He died on April 28, 1893, at the age of 77, in Jackson, Mississippi. McCardle was married twice, first to Emily Caroline Byrnes, with whom he had five children. Emily passed away in 1852. In 1868 he married Ann Eliza Sharp and had three more children. McCardle is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi.

(Wikipedia; FindaGrave; The Port Gibson Reveille, Port Gibson, MS, April 19, 1906; The Tattler, Vicksburg, MS, December 23, 1930; The Vicksburg Post, Vicksburg, MS, July 1, 1963)

William H. McCardle belonged to the following social groups: