William T. Nichols

William Thomas Nichols (March 24, 1829 - April 10, 1882) was a 19th-century politician, soldier, and businessman. He served in both houses of the Vermont legislature and commanded the 14th Vermont Infantry during the American Civil War. After the war, he became a founder of the Illinois village of Maywood, now a suburb of Chicago.

William T. Nichols was born in Clarendon, Vermont, the son of James Tilson Nichols and Minerva D. Nichols. Trained as a lawyer, he served as an assistant clerk in Vermont’s House of Representatives and then as the state's attorney in 1858–59.

In 1855, he traveled to Kansas Territory and became involved in the dispute over whether the territory would enter the United States as a slave-owning or free state. At one point, he volunteered for the risky task of delivering dispatches from the journalist William A. Phillips to Charles L. Robinson, a Free-Stater who was acting as territorial governor and who would later become the first governor of the state of Kansas. For this service, Nichols was appointed to Robinson's staff with the rank of colonel. He returned to Vermont the following year.

Nichols served in two volunteer Vermont regiments during the Civil War. In 1861, he enlisted as a private in the short-lived 1st Vermont Infantry, remaining until the unit was mustered out of service three months later. In 1862, he was commissioned colonel to command the 14th Vermont Infantry. He led his regiment in repulsing Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Shortly after Gettysburg, the 14th Vermont Infantry was mustered out of service.

Nichols's service in the state legislature overlapped the war years. In September 1861, just after the 1st Vermont Infantry was disbanded, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives. In 1863, after the disbanding of the 14th Vermont Infantry, he was elected to the Vermont Senate, becoming the youngest man (at age 34) ever to serve as a Vermont state senator.

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