| 1808 January 8 |
Born near Alexandria, Louisiana. His father was Samuel Levi Wells who was a member of the constitutional convention in 1811. His brother Thomas Jefferson Wells will also be involved in Louisiana politics. |
| 1816 |
Father dies leaving eight children. James is schooled at St. Joseph’s College in Bardstown, Ky., Partridges Academy, Middleton, Connecticut and Cincinnati Law School. |
| 1829 | Returned to Louisiana to operate several of his father’s plantations. |
| 1833 May 13 |
Marries 15 year old Mary Ann Scott. They will have 14 children. He controls a large cotton plantation near Alexandria, a sugar plantation on Bayou Huffpauer in Avoyelles Parish and a large summer home Jessamine Hill near Lecompte, Louisiana. |
| 1860 | Wells is appointed Sheriff of Rapides Parish by Governor
Andre
Bienvenu Roman. He is registered as a Whig and is a large slave holder. He supports Douglas for president but is an ardent supporter of the Union and for that he is criticized by his neighbors and his brother. He will be arrested by Confederate officials for his Union sympathies. |
| 1864 | Union troops control all or part of 17 parishes in South Louisiana. Wells forms the Unconditional Union Club of West Louisiana. He is nominated by both radicals (Benjamin Franklin Flanders) and moderates (George Michael Hahn) to be Lt. Governor but retains a conservative opposition to black rights. |
| 1864 March 4 |
Wells becomes Lt. Governor and supports compensated emancipation at the Constitutional Convention of 1864. |
| 1865 March 4 |
Inaugurated governor when George Michael Hahn resigns to become a Senator. Wells tries to implement a lenient plan of reconstruction of Andrew Johnson but was opposed by the military government. |
| 1865 November 6 |
In a special election Wells is elected governor, as a Democrat, over Henry Watkins Allen, who is in Mexico, by 22,312 votes to 5,497. As governor Wells opposes General Banks. He supports Hugh Kennedy as New Orleans Mayor and appoints numerous former confederates to state and local offices. He recommends dismantling public education and using only taxes from blacks to pay for freedmen’s schools. Wells also wants to build new levees, a new capital building and penitentiary, but he is ignored by the legislature which elects U. S. Senators (rejected by Congress) and passes black codes to limit freedmen. |
| 1866 July 30 |
Riots erupt over actions taken under the Constitutional Convention of 1864. Wells does little to prevent violence and General Sheridan holds him responsible. Wells again reverts back to his conservative façade, until Sheridan removes him from office. |
| 1867 June 3 |
Removed from office by General Sheridan for being an impediment to reconstruction, Wells goes home to Rapides Parish. |
| 1872 | Supports Grant’s re-election in the presidential race. During the 1870s Wells returns to politics as a scalawag and is known as Mad Wells. |
| 1873 | Appointed chairman of the State Returning Board which determines legality of ballots and discards fraudulent votes. This helps Republicans gain a slight edge in elections. |
| 1874 | Appointed Surveyor of the Port of New Orleans (Customs) and holds the job until 1880. |
| 1899 February 28 |
Dies at his Rapides Parish home. |