Wharton J. Green

Wharton Jackson Green
Born	Template:Birth date St. Marks, Florida, U.S.
Died	August 6, 1910(1910-08-06) (aged 79) Tokay, near Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Politician, lawyer, viticulturist
Years active	1854–1910
Known for	U.S. Representative from North Carolina; Confederate Army officer

Wharton Jackson Green (February 28, 1831 – August 6, 1910) served as a U.S. Representative from North Carolina and held the rank of officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Biography

Green was born in St. Marks, Florida, and received his early education through private tutors. His academic journey included attendance at Georgetown College, Lovejoy's Academy in Raleigh, and the United States Military Academy at West Point, though he did not complete his studies there. He pursued legal education at both the University of Virginia and Cumberland University, gaining admission to the bar in 1854. Initially, he practiced law in Washington, D.C., before relocating in 1859 to oversee his plantation, Esmeralda, located in Warren County, North Carolina.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Green enlisted and advanced to the position of lieutenant colonel within the Second North Carolina Battalion. He also served on the staff of Brigadier General Junius Daniel. During the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, Green sustained injuries and was taken prisoner, subsequently spending the remainder of the conflict detained at Johnson's Island.

Following the war, Green established residence at "Tokay Vineyard" near Fayetteville, dedicating himself to grape cultivation. He participated as a delegate in several Democratic National Conventions (1868, 1872, 1876, and 1888) and was appointed as the inaugural president of North Carolina’s Society of Confederate Soldiers and Sailors.

As a Democrat, Green was elected to represent North Carolina in the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses (1883–1887). After failing to secure renomination in 1886, he withdrew from political life to focus on his vineyard operations and literary pursuits. In 1906, he authored and published his autobiography entitled Recollections and Reflections: An Auto of Half a Century and More.

Green passed away at "Tokay," near Fayetteville, on August 6, 1910, and was interred at Cross Creek Cemetery.

He was descended from notable figures including his father, Thomas Jefferson Green—a general during the Texas Revolution—his grandfather U.S. Senator Jesse Wharton, and was related as a cousin to Confederate General Matt Whitaker Ransom.

In 1884, Green’s daughter Sarah wed industrialist Pembroke Jones. Supported by art collector and railroad executive Henry Walters, they developed distinguished homes in Newport and New York City. The garden estate Sarah created in Wilmington remains preserved today as Airlie Gardens.

External links

• Recollections and Reflections: An Auto of Half a Century and More. Raleigh, N.C.: Edwards and Broughton Printing Company, 1906.