Thomas H. Watts
| Thomas H. Watts | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 18th Governor of Alabama | |
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In office December 1, 1863 – May 1, 1865 |
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| Preceded by | John Shorter |
| Succeeded by | Lewis Parsons |
| 3rd Confederate States Attorney General | |
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In office March 18, 1862 – October 1, 1863 |
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| President | Jefferson Davis |
| Preceded by | Thomas Bragg |
| Succeeded by | Wade Keyes (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Thomas Hill Watts January 3, 1819 Butler County, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | September 16, 1892 (aged 73) Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
Thomas Hill Watts (January 3, 1819 – September 16, 1892) was the 18th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1863 to 1865, during the Civil War.
Watts was born in the Alabama Territory on January 3, 1819, the oldest of twelve children born to John Hughes Watts and Prudence Hill who had moved from Georgia to find the better lands of the frontier. He was of English and Welsh ancestry. Prepared for college at the Airy Mount Academy in Dallas County, Watts graduated with honors from the University of Virginia in 1840. He passed the bar examination the next year, and began practicing law in Greenville. In 1848 he moved his lucrative law practice to Montgomery. He also became a successful planter, owning 179 slaves in 1860.
Politically, Watts adopted a pro-Union stance during the 1850s, but subsequent developments made the depth of his beliefs questionable, for on the eve of the Civil War he played an important role in the secession of Alabama, and was one of the signers of the secession ordinance. Defeated by John Gill Shorter in an 1861 bid for governor, Watts organized the 17th Regiment Alabama Infantry, but resigned later to become attorney general in President Jefferson Davis' cabinet.
In 1863 Watts was elected Governor of Alabama. Assuming office on December 1, he began an eighteen-month governorship at a time when impressment, the tax-in-kind, and other severe wartime economic measures had become most odious. Worthless Confederate money, lack of credit possibilities, irregular supplies of goods, impressment efforts that often amounted to pillage and plunder, and harsh (and unevenly applied) taxes-in-kind levied on agriculture convinced many people that they preferred the "Old Union" to the "new despotism". The need to raise troops for the defense of the state became more urgent. Appeals to the male population to form volunteer companies and appeals to the state legislature to reorganize the state's awkward two-class militia were met with unsurmountable resistance. Some critics of Watts thought he should concentrate on forcing deserters back into military service. The legislature's failure to act meant that the state, and the Confederacy, would not have an effective militia in the final critical months of the war. Furthermore, the Confederate Conscription Act of February 17, 1864, inaugurated a policy of conscription that inevitably led to conflict between the state and the Confederacy.
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