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.
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] He is also remembered for his role in attempting to legitimate the lynching of John Henry James, whom Woods indicted posthumously. In 2023, at the request of Albemarle Commonwealth Attorney Jim Hingeley, Woods's indictment was dismissed, with the court noting that "[t]he indictment was not an instrument of justice; it was used as a sanction and to approve the lynching of a man simply because he was Black."[9]
^ abTyler, Lyon G., ed. (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography.
^ abc"We Will Remember Them". University of Virginia. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
^"VBA History and Heritage". The Virginia Bar Association. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
^Virginia Tech, Members of the Board of Visitors as Shown by College Catalogs, 1872-1972
^"Halloween mystery: 99 years later, the McCue murder". The HooK. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
^"A history of the Albemarle County Sheriff's Department". Albemarle County Sheriff's Office. Archived from the original on April 5, 2008. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
^"Biographical sketch, A Guide to the Micajah Woods Papers". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
^"Maud Coleman Woods (1877-1901), Charlottesville's Reluctant 'Miss America,'" published in Piedmont Preservation Newsletter, November, 2002.
^"John Henry James' 1898 indictment dismissed in Charlottesville". The Virginia Public Media. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
MicajahWoods (May 17, 1844 – March 14, 1911) was a Virginia lawyer, who served as the Commonwealth's Attorney in Charlottesville, Virginia for 41 years...
Kirby (1798–1882), American politician and New York state senator MicajahWoods (1844–1911), American lawyer from Virginia, the Commonwealth's Attorney...
Micajah "Big" Harpe, born Joshua Harper (before 1768 – August 24, 1799), and Wiley "Little" Harpe, born William Harper (before 1770 – February 8, 1804)...
Attorney and Virginia Bar Association President MicajahWoods enlisted in the 2nd Virginia Cavalry. Woods was the prosecuting attorney in the trial of Charlottesville...
William J. Leake, Thomas S. Martin, Alexander Hamilton, James E. Heath, MicajahWoods, George M. Harrison, F.H. McGuire, and such other persons as are now...
Regarding Zadock Woodsand His Sons: Norman Woods; Henry Gonzalvo Woods; Montraville Woods; Leander Woods compiled by Robert Forsyth Little, IV and Marianne...
The Micajah Martin House is a historic house on Old Peterborough Road in Dublin, New Hampshire. Built about 1802, it is a well-preserved local example...
Fayette County McDunn, in Fayette County Meadow Fork, in Fayette County Micajah, West Virginia, in Mercer County Michigan, in Fayette County Milburn, in...
Sawyer (1786–1852) of Newburyport, Massachusetts. She was a daughter of Micajah Sawyer (1737–1817), a founding member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences...
Gone Wrong solo in a matter of days. He was assisted by sound engineer Micajah Ryan but served as his own producer. In their book Bob Dylan All the Songs:...
November 2, 2017. "Is A Bluebeard". Topeka State Journal. October 13, 1902. Wood, William P. (2004). The Bone Garden: the Sacramento Boardinghouse Murders...
killing 11 of them. Executed via death by a thousand cuts around 1812. Micajah and Wiley Harpe United States 1797–1803 40 Highwaymen and river pirates...
River/Natchez Trace highwaymen and Baltimore, mail coach robbers. Micajah and Wiley Harpe 1768-1799 (Micajah) 1770-1804 (Wiley) United States America's first known...
the Treasury (George M. Humphrey); United States Attorney General (Harry Micajah Daugherty); United States Secretary of the Interior (Kenneth Lee Salazar);...
Ketcham Perley Keyes John J. Kiernan Frederick D. Kilburn John A. King Micajah W. Kirby Leigh G. Kirkland William Kirnan John Kissel Jeffrey D. Klein...
Succeeded by Thomas Watkins In office May 1, 1780-May 6, 1781 Preceded by Micajah Watkins Succeeded by George Watkins Personal details Born (1747-03-02)March...
1802. In 1808 he was appointed as adjutant of the regiment commanded by Micajah Pettit. Later in 1808 he was promoted to major, and appointed as inspector...
two miles to the present location. On June 8, 1795, the bill proposed by Micajah Coffin to change the town's name to the "Town of Nantucket" was endorsed...
had a brief association with the first known serial killers in America, Micajah and Wiley Harpe, as well as Peter Alston, and possibly John Duff, the counterfeiter...
Company F—"Wood's Rifles," from Craighead county, Capt. Joel G. Wood. Company G—"Ashley Light Infantry," from Ashley county, Capt. Micajah R. Wilson....
Global Information