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William Henry Foote
William Henry Foote
Born	December 20, 1794; Colchester, Connecticut
Died	November 22, 1869 (aged 74); Romney, West Virginia
Resting place	Indian Mound Cemetery
Education	Yale University; Princeton Theological Seminary; Hampden–Sydney College
Occupation(s)	Theologian, historian
Spouse(s)	Eliza Wilson (Glass) Foote; Arabella (Gilliam) Foote
Children	Ann Waterman Foote; Eliza Wilson Foote; Mary Arabella Foote
Parent(s)	Stephen Foote; Hannah Waterman Foote

William Henry Foote (December 20, 1794 – November 22, 1869) was an American Presbyterian minister in Virginia and North Carolina. He served as a Confederate chaplain during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. He wrote several books about the history of Presbyterians in the American South.

Early life

William Henry Foote was born on December 20, 1794, in Colchester, Connecticut.^[1]^[2] His father was Stephen Foote and his mother, Hannah Waterman Foote.^[1]

He graduated from Yale University in 1816.^[1] He then studied at the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1818 to 1819, where he became an ordained Presbyterian minister.^[1]

Career

Foote served as a Presbyterian minister in Woodstock, Virginia, from 1822 to 1824.^[1] He then preached at Mount Bethel Church until 1833.^[1] Meanwhile, he served as the principal of the Romney Academy in Romney, West Virginia, from 1826 to 1838.^[1] He also served as the first pastor of Strasburg Presbyterian Church in Strasburg, Virginia.^[3]

From 1838 to 1845, Foote served as an agent for the Central Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church.^[1]^[4] He visited many Presbyterian churches in Virginia and North Carolina during that time.^[4] From 1845 to the early 1860s, he also preached at the Romney Presbyterian Church in Romney as well as in Springfield and Patterson's Creek.^[1]

In 1846, Foote published Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical, based on his experience.^[4] The book starts with a history of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and the War of the Regulation, two catalysts in the secession of the American colonies from Great Britain, and recounts the establishment of a Presbyterian community in Duplin County, North Carolina, by immigrants from Ulster as early as 1736.^[4] It goes on to explain the history of Presbyterians in North Carolina until 1845.^[4] The book was reprinted posthumously in 1965.^[4]

Foote received a Doctorate of Divinity (D.D.) from Hampden–Sydney College (H–SC) in 1847.^[1] He served on its Board of Trustees from 1851 to 1870, and Board President from 1864 to 1866.^[5] He also served on the Board of Trustees of Union Presbyterian Seminary, then the Theology department at H–SC from 1838 to 1869.^[5] While he was at H–SC, he wrote a two-volume history of Presbyterians in Virginia; Sketches of Virginia, Historical and Biographical (1850) and Sketches of Virginia, Historical and Biographical, Second Series (1855).^[5]

During the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865, he served as a Presbyterian chaplain in the Confederate States Army.^[1] He then returned to preaching in Virginia after the war.^[1] In 1869, he also wrote The Huguenots, or Reformed French Church, a history of the Huguenot, descendants of the Reformed Church of France.^[6]