Augustus Woodward
| Augustus B. Woodward | |
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| United States Judge for the Territory of Florida | |
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In office August 26, 1824 – July 12, 1827 |
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| Appointed by | James Monroe |
| United States Judge for the Territory of Michigan | |
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In office March 3, 1805 – July 12, 1827 |
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| Appointed by | Thomas Jefferson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 1774 |
| Died | July 12, 1827 |
Augustus Brevoort Woodward (born Elias Brevoort Woodward in November 1774, died July 12, 1827) was the first Chief Justice of the Michigan Territory. In that position, he played a prominent role in the reconstruction of Detroit following a devastating fire in 1805. He promoted an urban design based on radial avenues, as in Washington, DC and Paris. He is also known as one of the founders of the University of Michigan, established by the legislature in 1817.
He was born Elias Brevoort Woodward in 1774 in New York. He read the law and practiced as an attorney in Washington, DC.
Woodward never married. His biographer, Arthur M. Woodford, describes Woodward as a prototype of Washington Irving’s Ichabod Crane. He stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall, and was thin, sallow, and stooped. His long, narrow face was dominated by a big nose. He had thick, black hair. His contemporaries commented on his slovenliness.
While living in Washington, D.C., Woodward was described as "a man of middle age, a hardened bachelor who wore nut-brown clothing . . . he slept in his office which was never swept ... and was eccentric and erratic. His friends were few and his practice was so small that he hardly made a living." But while working in Washington, he got to know President Thomas Jefferson, and they shared scientific and education interests.
President Thomas Jefferson and Woodward knew each other personally. Jefferson appointed Woodward on March 3, 1805, as the Michigan Territory's first Chief Justice. When Woodward arrived in Detroit on June 30, 1805, he found the city in ruins from the devastating fire earlier that month on June 11. Few buildings were left standing.
Woodward, with Governor William Hull and associate Justices John Griffin and Frederick Bates, possessed all the legislative power in the Territory. Woodward and Griffin, along with the current Governor and a third judge, held this power from 1805 until the institution of a legislature in 1824. Woodward and Hull bickered almost constantly. One of Woodward's legacies is the Woodward Code: a series of statutes serving as the basis of the Territorial Supreme Court legal procedures.
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