| 1834 August 20 |
Born in Donaldsonville, Ascension Parish, Louisiana. His father was Thomas Charles Nicholls, a native of Maryland who practiced law in Donaldsonville and later became a District Judge and the First president of the Temperance Society. His mother was Louisa Hannon Drake of New York. Francis was educated at the Jefferson Academy in St. James Parish. |
| 1851 | Appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. |
| 1855 |
Graduates from the USMA 12th in a class of 34. Commissioned a brevet 2nd Lt. of the 2nd Artillery Regiment and serves briefly at Fort Myers, Florida and California. |
| 1856 | Resigns his commission due to health problems and studies law at the University of Louisiana (later Tulane U.) but leaves before he gains a degree to pass the bar and open a practice in Napoleonville. |
| 1860 April 26 |
Marries Caroline Zilpha Guion. They will have one son and five daughters. |
| 1861 |
Helps to raise an infantry company and is elected Captain. He is later appointed a Lt. Col. of the 8th Louisiana Infantry Regiment and will fight at the first battle of Bull Run. |
| 1862 May 25 |
Loses his left arm at the Battle of Winchester. |
| 1863 May 4 |
Loses his left foot at the Battle of Chancellorsville where he commanded the 2nd La. Brigade as a Brig. General. |
| 1864 | Defends Lynchburg, Virginia and then controls the Conscript Bureau of the Trans-Mississippi Department until the war ends. |
| 1865 | Resumes his law practice in Assumption Parish. |
| 1876 |
Nominated for governor by the Democrats and elected by a majority of 8,000 votes, but the Republican controlled State Returning Board cites irregularities and declares S. B. Packard the winner. Nicholls takes his seat, establishes a defacto government and is later recognized as governor by the federal government as part of the Compromise of 1877. Nicholls takes money from the nefarious Louisiana Lottery Company to pay salaries of Democrats to join his legislature. |
| 1877 January 8 |
Inaugurated as a fiscally conservative Democrat, Nicholls inherits an infamous crew of supporters: His State Treasurer, Edward A Burke is the biggest crook in Louisiana history. Samuel L. James operates the brutal convict lease system for a tremendous profit. His original contract was granted by the Republicans, but James shifts political gears under the Democrats. Lt. Governor Louis Alfred Wiltz is a willing tool of the Lottery, spreading corruption through the administration. Nicholls appoints blacks and other Republicans to state offices and is criticized by Wiltz and other Democrats. |
| 1878 | Democrats use violence and fraud to win black precincts in state elections. |
| 1879 | Louis
Alfred Wiltz presides over a constitutional convention called by Nicholls.
With broad changes over the current carpetbag constitution the convention
reapportions the legislature, reduces its authority, lowers tax rates
tremendously and moves the capital back to Baton Rouge. It also calls for a special election at the time of the approval of the new constitution. Nicholls is not renominated for the post and loses his job a year early. |
| 1879 December |
Louis Alfred Wiltz wins the election for governor and Nicholls resumes his law practice. The |
| 1887 | The Democrats, now in support of the Anti-Lottery League, ask Nicholls to run for governor again. |
| 1888 April 17 |
Nicholls defeats Henry
C. Warmoth and returns to the governor’s office. He has agreed to appoint Samuel Douglas McEnery to the Supreme court to avoid a fair count that would have given the Republicans the election. He also sanctions the use of vote fraud against blacks and protesting white farmers and laborers, but cuts Burke from the ticket. Burke absconds to Honduras with $1.2 million he has skimmed from the state treasury. |
| 1888 May 21 |
Taking office, Nicholls crusades against the Lottery. Lottery-owned legislators pass joint resolutions to recharter the syndicate and offer more than $1 million to the state treasury, but Nicholls vetos the bill. The State Supreme Court reverses Nicholls’ action. Next the U. S. Congress steps in to forbid lotteries from using U. S. mails to sell tickets across state lines. Nicholls acquiesces to a gradual reduction of educational funding, which sets the tone for poor public education in the state for the next 100 years. |
| 1892 | Nicholls serves as Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court until 1904. |
| 1904 | Serves as an Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court until 1911. |
| 1912 January 4 |
Dies on his plantation near Thibodaux. |