{{Short description|American politician (1819–1892)}} {{Use American English|date=October 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Thomas H. Watts |image = Thomas Hill Watts 1860s.jpg |office = 18th [[List of Governors of Alabama|Governor of Alabama]] |term_start = December 1, 1863 |term_end = May 1, 1865 |predecessor = [[John Gill Shorter|John Shorter]] |successor = [[Lewis E. Parsons|Lewis Parsons]] |office1 = 3rd [[Confederate States Attorney General]] |president1 = [[Jefferson Davis]] |term_start1 = March 18, 1862 |term_end1 = October 1, 1863 |predecessor1 = [[Thomas Bragg]] |successor1 = [[Wade Keyes]] (Acting) |birth_name=Thomas Hill Watts |birth_date = {{birth date|1819|1|3}} |birth_place = [[Pine Flat, Alabama|Pine Flat]], Alabama, U.S.<ref name="Little1885">{{cite book|author=John Buckner Little|title=History of Butler County, Alabama, 1815 to 1885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7AY-ShSJfMC&pg=PA71|year=1885|publisher=J. G. Little, Jr.}}</ref> |death_date = {{death date and age|1892|9|16|1819|1|3}} |death_place = [[Montgomery, Alabama]], U.S. |resting_place= [[Oakwood Cemetery (Montgomery, Alabama)]] |party = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas Hill Watts |url=https://www.nga.org/governor/thomas-hill-watts/ |website=National Governors Association |access-date=4 April 2024 |date=17 January 2011}}</ref> |alma_mater = [[University of Virginia]] |occupation = Lawyer | allegiance = {{Flag|Confederate States of America}} | commands = [[17th Alabama Infantry Regiment|17th Alabama Infantry]] | rank = [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] | battles = [[American Civil War]] * [[Battle of Pensacola (1861)|Siege of Pensacola]] * [[Siege of Corinth]] }} [[File:Engraved portrait of Thomas Hill Watts.jpg|thumb|Engraved portrait of Thomas H. Watts]] '''Thomas Hill Watts Sr.''' (January 3, 1819{{spaced ndash}}September 16, 1892) was an American lawyer, slaveowner, [[Confederate States Attorney General]] and the 18th [[governor of Alabama]] from 1863 to 1865, during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].
==Early life== Watts was born at [[Pine Flat, Alabama|Pine Flat]] in the [[Alabama Territory]] on January 3, 1819, the oldest of twelve children born to John Hughes Watts and Catherine Prudence Hill, who had moved from Georgia to find the better lands of the frontier. He was of English and Welsh ancestry.<ref>{{cite web|author=K. Torp |url=http://genealogytrails.com/ala/butler/bios.html |title=Butler County, Alabama Biographies |publisher=Genealogytrails.com |access-date=September 13, 2012}}</ref> Prepared for college at the Airy Mount Academy in [[Dallas County, Alabama|Dallas County]], Watts graduated with honors from the [[University of Virginia]] in 1840. The next year, he passed the bar examination and began practicing law in [[Greenville, Alabama|Greenville]]. In 1848 he moved his lucrative law practice to Montgomery. He also became a wealthy plantation owner, enslaving 179 people in 1860.<ref name="Yearns">{{cite book |editor-last1=Yearns |editor-first1=W. Buck |title=The Confederate Governors|url= |date=1985 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |page=30-40}}</ref>
==Political career== Elected to the [[Alabama State Legislature]] in the 1840s as a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]], Watts also served in the [[Alabama State Senate]] in 1853.<ref name="Yearns" /> After the Whig party collapsed, he ran for [[United States Congress|Congress]] as a [[Know Nothing]] in 1855, but lost.<ref name="Yearns" /> Initially Watts took a pro-[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] stance as tensions rose in the 1850s. But on the eve of the Civil War he became an advocate of secession and called for Alabama's immediate exit from the Union following the election of [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] President [[Abraham Lincoln]] in 1860.<ref name="Yearns" /> Watts played an important role in the Alabama secession convention and was one of the signers of the secession ordinance.<ref name="Yearns" />
Watts' reputation as a former moderate led to his defeat by fervent secessionist [[John Gill Shorter]] in the [[1861 Alabama gubernatorial election]].<ref name="Yearns" /> Watts then organized the [[17th Regiment Alabama Infantry]] and led it into battle at [[Battle of Pensacola (1861)|Pensacola]] and [[Siege of Corinth|Corinth]],<ref>Robson, Charles [https://archive.org/details/representativeme00robs/page/43/mode/1up ''Representative men of the South''. Philadelphia: C. Robson & Co., 1880], p. 43</ref> but resigned as its colonel in April 1862 when he was selected to become the [[attorney general]] in Confederate President [[Jefferson Davis]]' cabinet.<ref name="Yearns" /><ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. 1 Serial 127 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=1005|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/127/1005}}</ref>
Watts served as attorney general for 18 months, often tasked with managing legal matters related to [[Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864|conscription]] and the order of precedence between local state organizations and Confederate military authority.<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Serial 128|location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=212|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/128/0212}}</ref> He worked diligently, and gained a reputation as a competent and thoughtful chief legal officer.<ref name="Yearns" /> ==Governor of Alabama== Watts left his post as attorney general to run for Alabama governor in the [[1863 Alabama gubernatorial election|1863 election]], facing off against his former opponent John Gill Shorter in a repeat of the 1861 contest. However, the military situation in Alabama had deteriorated greatly in the intervening two years. Union troops occupied the north of the state, there were major food shortages, and thousands of Alabama troops had deserted the army and formed hostile gangs that threatened Confederate control of the state.<ref name="Weitz">{{cite book |last=Weitz|first=Mark A.|orig-date=2005|title=More Damning than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army |location= |publisher=University of Nebraska Press|page=210,214,239|url=}}</ref><ref name="Yearns2">{{cite book |editor-last1=Yearns |editor-first1=W. Buck |title=The Confederate Governors|url= |date=1985 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |page=21-30}}</ref> Watts defeated the incumbent Governor Shorter by a 3-1 margin, and took office on December 1, 1863. Facing a disgruntled populace that increasingly preferred peace and a return to the Union rather than more war, Watts embarked on a speaking tour of the state to make the case for continuing the war effort.<ref name="Yearns" />
Watts' administration turned to severe measures to try to salvage the economic situation in Alabama. These initiatives included [[impressment]] of slaves for forced labor,<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 26, Serial 42|location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=503|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/042/0503}}</ref> [[Tax in kind|tax-in-kind]] policies, and other efforts that further alienated the already-suffering civilian population and left some communities on the verge of starvation.<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 32, Serial 59|location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=718|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/059/0718}}</ref><ref name="Ash">{{cite journal |last1=Ash|first1=Steven V. |title=Poor Whites in the Occupied South, 1861-1865 |journal=The Journal of Southern History |date=February 1991|volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=39-62 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2209873 |access-date=12 April 2026}}</ref> In the face of discontent, Watts tried to position these unpopular measures as Confederate government policies rather than the actions of his administration.<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 39, Serial 78|location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=780|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/078/0780}}</ref><ref name="Yearns" /> Compelled to aid the destitute population, the state government printed [[Confederate States dollar|paper money]] which was not backed by hard assets, leading to [[Hyperinflation|massive inflation]].<ref name="Yearns" />
Military manpower was a constant and unsolvable problem. As the war began to turn against the Confederacy, there was greater resistance to patriotic appeals for men to form new volunteer companies.<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 49, Serial 103 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=1030|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/103/1030}}</ref> Desertion was a major drain on Alabama's manpower, with many men leaving the army without permission, defying conscription officers, and practicing armed resistance against the state government.<ref name="Weitz" /> By the end of 1864, gangs of armed deserters had turned half of Alabama's counties into lawless zones where the edicts of the governor and the national government had no effect.<ref name="Yearns" /><ref name="Weitz" /> Watts' appealed to the state legislature to restore order by reorganizing the awkward two-class state militia, but this measure was defeated. The legislature, now filled with peace advocates, refused to reform the laws that limited the ability to send militia units outside of their home counties, which made them useless from a military perspective.<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. 39 Serial 79 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=856|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/079/0856}}</ref> As a result, Alabama did not have an effective home guard force either to fend off Union incursions or retake the rebellious regions of the state.<ref name="Yearns" /><ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. 49 Serial 103 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=1013|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/103/1013}}</ref>
When the Confederate Congress passed a [[Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864|new conscription law]] drafting men age 17-50, Watts, who had previously supported conscription as Confederate attorney general, defied the national government and fought hard to maintain local manpower under his control.<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 3, Serial 129 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=463|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/129/0463}}</ref> Drawing on these age groups would have taken away the men Watts was relying on to supply the state militia, and would further alienate those who resented being sent away to fight in a war they now considered hopeless. Governor Watts wrote to the Confederate Secretary of War [[James Seddon]], stating "Unless you order the commandant of conscripts to stop interfering with such companies there will be a conflict between the Confederate general and State authorities"<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 3, Serial 129 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=466|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/129/0466}}</ref> and threatened to resist conscription by force of arms.<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 3, Serial 129 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=817|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/129/0817}}</ref> Seddon backed down and allowed Watts to keep control of the Alabama militia forces, and the state supreme court affirmed Watts' authority to maintain the militia's exemption from conscription.<ref name="Yearns" />
By September 1864, another turbulent issue confronted Governor Watts as a faction in the [[Alabama House of Representatives]] introduced resolutions in calling for peace and restoration to the Union. Watts bitterly denounced them and the measures were defeated in the legislature, but the Governor was aware that he would most likely lose his bid for reelection in the fall to the pro-Union faction.<ref name="Yearns" /> By early 1865 anti-war sentiment was so widespread in Alabama it was reported to Union General [[Ulysses S. Grant]] that Watts' administration might possibly be overthrown by the peace party in Alabama.<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 49, Serial 103 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=590|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/103/0590}}</ref>
The military situation worsened as US Navy forces [[Battle of Mobile Bay|captured Mobile Bay]] in August 1864,<ref >{{cite book |last=United States War Department|author-link= |date=1895 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume 45, Serial 94 |location=Washington DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=683|url=https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/094/0683}}</ref> and Union cavalry [[Wilson's Raid|raided across the state destroying infrastructure]]. When the state capital of [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]] was threatened, Watts evacuated the government to [[Eufaula, Alabama|Eufaula]] before he was arrested by US soldiers at [[Union Springs, Alabama]], on May 1, 1865.<ref name="Yearns" /> Released without charge a few weeks later, Watts returned to resume his law practice in Montgomery. He managed to build up a successful practice and argued more cases before the [[Supreme Court of Alabama]] than any other attorney of that era. Watts later returned to the state legislature for one term (1880-81),<ref name="Yearns" /> was president of the state bar association, and after his death was remembered as "Alabama's greatest lawyer".<ref name="Greenbag">{{cite journal |last1=Davis|first1=W.C. |title=Ex-Gov Thomas H. Watts|journal=The Green Bag |date=1892|volume=IV |issue= |pages=549 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Green_Bag/6VAZAAAAYAAJ|access-date=12 April 2026}}</ref>
Thomas Hill Watts died of a heart attack at age 73, on September 16, 1892, in Montgomery, Alabama.<ref name="Yearns" />
==Family== On January 10, 1842, he wed Eliza Brown Allen, and they had ten children.
He was the great-great-grandfather of the white supremacist [[William Luther Pierce]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1929-11-28 |title=Miss Ferrell and Mr. Pierce to Wed Today |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montgomery-advertiser-miss-ferrell-a/184195639/ |access-date=2025-11-02 |work=[[The Montgomery Advertiser]] |pages=6 |volume=CI |issue=332 |issn=2993-9151}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Travis |title=Dark Ideas: How Neo-Nazi and Violent Jihadi Ideologues Shaped Modern Terrorism |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-7391-9105-7 |pages=25–42 |language=en |chapter=The Need to Weaponize Ideas: Anwar Al-Awlaki and William Pierce}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *McMillan, Malcolm C. ''The Disintegration of a Confederate State, Three Governors and Alabama's Wartime Home Front, 1861–1865''. Macon, Ga.: Mercer, 1986.
==External links== *{{find a Grave|7419521}} *[http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_wattst.html Alabama Governors: Thomas Hill Watts]
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} |- {{s-vac|last=William S. Earnest}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] nominee for [[Governor of Alabama]]|years=[[1861 Alabama gubernatorial election|1861]], [[1863 Alabama gubernatorial election|1863]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Robert M. Patton]]}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Bragg]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Confederate States Attorney General]]|years=1862–1863}} {{s-aft|after=[[Wade Keyes]]<br>(Acting)}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[John Gill Shorter|John Shorter]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[List of Governors of Alabama|Governor of Alabama]]|years=1863–1865}} {{s-aft|after=[[Lewis E. Parsons|Lewis Parsons]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Governors of Alabama}} {{CSCabinet}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Thomas H.}} [[Category:1819 births]] [[Category:1892 deaths]] [[Category:Alabama Secession Delegates of 1861]] [[Category:19th-century owners of plantations in the United States]] [[Category:Executive members of the Cabinet of the Confederate States of America]] [[Category:19th-century Alabama politicians]] [[Category:People of Alabama in the American Civil War]] [[Category:People from Butler County, Alabama]] [[Category:Confederate States of America state governors]] [[Category:University of Virginia alumni]] [[Category:State governors of the United States who owned slaves]] [[Category:American people of English descent]]