State of North Carolina 1869 dated $1,000 Bond signed by William Woods Holden (Uncanceled)

1869 6% $1,000 UNCANCELED Bond issued for the Western North Carolina Railroad. Signed by the Governor W. W. Holden. Engraved with three great vignettes by American Bank Note. 59 of the 60 coupons present. Great for framing! From a popular and scarce state! Scarce. Excellent Condition.

William Woods Holden (November 24, 1818 – March 1, 1892) was a prominent American politician who held the office of the 38th and 40th governor of North Carolina. He was appointed to the governorship by President Andrew Johnson in 1865 for a short duration and subsequently elected in 1868. His tenure lasted until 1871, during which he emerged as a key figure in the state's Republican Party amid the Reconstruction Era. Holden became the second governor in U.S. history to face impeachment and was the first to be ousted from office through this procedure. His impeachment was driven by political motives, primarily due to his efforts to suppress the Ku Klux Klan.

Following the Republican Party's defeat in the 1870 elections, he was impeached on eight counts related to his conduct during the Kirk–Holden war. Notably, he remains the only governor of North Carolina to have been impeached. In 2011, the North Carolina Senate granted him a posthumous pardon. During the approval of the new state constitution, Holden was elected governor as the leading candidate on the Republican ticket in 1868, defeating Thomas Samuel Ashe. Upon his election, he relinquished his roles as editor and owner of the Standard.