Fuel for a second verse: U.S. Senator Henry Wilson, one of that then rare and now extinct breed of politicians who believe in leading from the front, was almost captured by the Confederates at the first battle of Bull Run. Wilson, born into poverty in New Hampshire, had been an indebtured servant for 11 years, and had developed what became a lifelong loathing of slavery. Surviving the battle, Wilson went on to become U.S. Vice President 1873-75.