Given the current one in post-1900 seems to have died, let's start this over in a somewhat different way. The game is simple; write short biographies of OTL famous individuals; politicians, generals, artists, writers, actors, or what have you, in an alternate universe. Two ground rules; no PODs before January 1st 1850, and all entries must be in a single timeline.
Edit: While not explicitly stated, as is the precedent for these threads, sparing application of the butterfly effect is in place; the point is to show real people in an alternate timeline, although by a more "Accurate" standard they would be butterflied away.
Anyway, let's get this rolling.
Louis T. Wigfall (1816-1873) - United States Senator from Texas 1859 to 1869 and President of the United States 1869 to 1873.
Born in Edgefield, South Carolina, to a wealthy Charleston merchant father and a Huguenot mother. Both his parents died while he was still a child, and one of his older brothers was killed in a duel, leaving him to be tutored by a guardian. He studied at a military academy in Columbia and at the University of Virginia and South Carolina College, becoming known for drinking, dueling, and gambling, but also showing a keen interest in debate and law. While he gave up dueling after his marriage, his violent demeanor gave him a toxic image in South Carolina, and in 1848 he moved to Texas for a fresh start.
Arriving in Texas, he threw himself back into politics, becoming a member of the state House and state Senate before being appointed to the United States Senate. He became a leading southern Democrat known for his fiery rhetoric and skilled oratory, and would win the 1868 Presidential Election running with Horatio Seymour. Over the first two months of 1869, twelve states—Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin—declared independence as the Federated States of America, appointing Republican John C. Fremont as their provisional President, leading a government based in Cleveland, Ohio. By the end of the year, four more—Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—had joined the original twelve and a pro-secession government had been formed in the Dakota Territory. The FSA also recognized a pro-secession government in Nebraska, which did not control the state.
Wigfall, once a leading "Fire Eater" who considered southern secession, was now in the uncomfortable position of beng forced by public opinion to preserve the union at all costs. However, despite the best efforts of Wigfall's administration, the FSA, which contained the lion's share of America's industrial capability, proved too strong for the rump USA to beat, and British, German, and Russian recognition of the FSA's independence in 1872 sealed the fate of the union. Wigfall sued for peace and was defeated in a landslide by Francis Preston Blair Jr. of the still young Unionist Party. Wigfall, disgraced and in poor health, drank himself to death in February 1873, and was briefly succeeded by Vice President Seymour before Blair's inauguration.