Villepigue was born in South Carolina. He was descended from a Frenchman, Francois Villepigue, who immigrated from France to Saint-Domingue, a French colony, in 1788, but was killed by his slaves in a slave rebellion in 1800 in the Haitian Revolution.
Villepigue graduated from South Carolina College and moved to Florida in the 1840s.
The 1850 Census listed him as a 21-year-old lawyer living in Jefferson County. Villepigue was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Charles West. Downing, Junior. as Secretary of State of Florida on July 1, 1853, and was elected to that post on July 25, 1853, serving until January 13, 1863. The 1860 Census listed Villepigue having a personal estate of $200.00.
On January 11, 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, Villepigue publicly affixed the Great Seal of the State of Florida to Florida"s Declaration of Independence on the east portico of the State Capitol, turned to faced an assembled crowd, and "in a clear distinct voice proclaimed Florida an independent nation.
A second later 15 cannon were fired in salute of the new state and shouting broke fourth."
Villepigue enlisted in the Confederate States Army on March 3, 1862, at Tallahassee, joined Robert Howard Gamble"s Artillery. In April 1862, he was appointed first lieutenant of the Leon Light Artillery under Gamble, then a captain.
Villepigue was promoted from lieutenant to captain of the Kilcrease Light Artillery on May 26, 1863. He served with the Kilcrease Light Artillery until November 22, 1864, when he resigned his commission to become Secretary of the Confederate Senate.
On January 22, 1867, he began to serve as a judge of the criminal court in Monticello until the next session Florida Legislature, and was paid an annual salary of $200 and $5 for each case tried.
1867 tax records show Villepigue as owning 50 acres (200,000 m2) assessed at $700 and one horse valued at $50, while records two years later show him as a lawyer worth $10. The 1870 Census listed Villepigue as having a personnel estate of $300. He is interred at Roselawn Cemetery in Monticello, Florida.
