A general model for the capillary rise for uniaxial nematic liquid crystals has been derived using fundamental principles and classical liquid crystal physics and partially validated using existing experimental data. A rigorous formulation of the contributions of surface and bulk nematic elasticity was implemented. The surface contribution is a function of the surface anchoring strength at the liquid crystal-capillary wall. The exact bulk elasticity contribution is a function of the director field in the meniscus. The specific form of the capillary rise equation for four typical nematic textures was developed and analyzed. It is found that capillary rise depends on the presence of bulk disclinations and on the orientation field close to the contact line. It is found that orientation gradients at the contact line are the most significant nematic contribution to capillary rise. The model explains unusual features in experimental capillary rise measurements, including why parallel nematic orientation at the capillary wall exhibits a higher capillary rise than orthogonal orientation.