USA > Alabama > Reminiscences of public men in Alabama : for thirty years, with an appendix > Part 79
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figure in any discussion, particularly such as involved the repre- sentative character of the Government and the sovereignty of the State. On such occasions his power was manifest. He seldom participated in minor debates, but reserved his strength for the more important topics.
Mr. Moore remained in private life, after 1845, until 1850, when he was a candidate for Judge of the Circuit Court, and was defeated by Judge Phelan. In 1851, the latter gentleman was promoted to the Bench of the Supreme Court, when Mr. Moore was appointed, by Judge Collier, to fill the vacancy on the Circuit Bench, to which he was regularly elected until 1857, when he was nominated by the Democratic party for the office of Governor, to succeed Gov. Winston. There was quite a contest among the aspirants of the party for the nomination, but none for Governor. He was elected without opposition. For reelection to his second term in 1859, he was opposed by William F. Samford, Esq., over whom he obtained a large majority.
At the session of the Legislature, in 1859, joint resolutions were adopted authorizing the Governor to call a Convention of the people of the State, in the event that an Abolition candidate was elected President of the United States in 1860. This emer- gency having arisen by the election of Mr. Lincoln, Gov. Moore promptly issued his proclamation ordering an election of delegates from the several counties, to meet in Convention at Montgomery, in January, 1861, for the purpose of taking such steps as might be necessary to withdraw the State from the Union, as the Legisla- ture had directed. The Ordinance of Secession was passed on the 11th day of January. In the meantime, Gov. Moore had sent a military command to take possession of the Forts at Pensacola, Florida, as a precautionary measure to prevent their being occu- pied by the United States troops as a point from which to invade Alabama. This step was much commented upon in the Conven- tion; by some with favor, and by others with objection. None, however, questioned the patriotic motives of the Governor, who was known to be thoroughly a secessionist, and much impressed with the advantages of disunion to the South. The war was fairly in progress when he retired from the Executive in November, 1861; and he was a private citizen when the war terminated, in 1865, by surrender, in a manner wholly different from what he had anticipated, when signing documents which brought on the difficulty. He was not alone in error, nor in the integrity of his conduct, however deplorable the consequences to the South.
Gov. Moore is still living, though for many years he has suffered great bodily affliction. He is a gentleman of high moral character, being a member of the Presbyterian Church, and always agreea-
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ble and blameless in private life. As a Legislator, Judge, and Chief Magistrate, he has an honorable record.
JOHN GILL SHORTER was born in Jasper county, Georgia, in 1818, and graduated at the University of that State in 1837. His father, the late Gen. Reuben C. Shorter, removed to Alabama, and settled at Eufaula, (then Irwinton,) in 1836. After a course of law studies, he was admitted to the bar in 1838. He was ap- pointed, in 1842, by Gov. Fitzpatrick, Solicitor of the Judicial Circuit in which he resided, to fill a vacancy.
In 1845, Mr. Shorter was returned to the Senate, being the first Senator elected from Barbour county after its separation from Rus- sell. He was not again a candidate until 1851, when he was elected to the House. During that session, the Hon. George Goldthwaite was promoted from the Circuit to the bench of the Supreme Court, and soon after the adjournment, Governor Collier appointed Mr. Shorter, Judge of the Circuit Court, to fill the vacancy. He was elected to the office by the people of his Cir- cuit in 1852, and was reëlected, without opposition, after a service of six years-in all, nine years on the bench, to the public satis- faction.
When the Secession Convention of Georgia was sitting, in Jan- uary, 1861, Judge Shorter appeared before it as a Commissioner from Alabama. He was a member of the Provisional Congress, and, in 1861, was brought forward by the masses of the people as a candidate for Governor, and was elected without any regular opposition. In 1863, he was defeated in a contest for reelection by the Hon. Thomas H. Watts, late Attorney-General of the Con- federate States.
In justice to Gov. Shorter, it may be said that it was utterly impossible for any man to fulfill the public expectations, and to satisfy all complaints during the war. So many difficult questions arose as the war progressed, touching conscription, quota of State troops for the Confederate service, tax in kind for the support of the army, a revenue and specific tax under acts of Congress, a tax for the support of the State Government, and for the redemption of its bonds, and the general supervision of State affairs, compli- cated by the war-all these embarrassments to the Executive pro- duced a feeling of popular dissatisfaction which probably no wis- dom could have prevented, under the circumstances. The sentence against him was harsh indeed, and it is believed that it was uncalled for and unauthorized on the principle of justice. Gov. Shorter was a man of more than ordinary abilities, of considerable expe- rience in public life, and his honor was spotless. His administra- tion was a good one, all the difficulties in his pathway fairly con- sidered.
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His retirement is, no doubt, attended with great tranquillity and enjoyment, as he is wealthy and pious, being a member of the Baptist Church. He is held in high esteem by the community. His wife is a daughter of Dr. Cullen Battle, of Barbour, and a sister of Gen. Cullen Battle, of Macon county. In addition to a large planting interest, he pursues the practice of the law at Eu- faula, to increase his income and his usefulness.
[NOTE .- After a short illness, Gov. Shorter died May 29th, 1872, aged fifty- four years. ]
THOMAS HILL WATTS, born in Alabama, was educated at the University of Virginia. He selected the profession of the law, and soon obtained a good practice. In 1842, when quite young, he was elected a Representative in the Legislature from Butler county, and continued to serve until 1845. He afterward re- moved to Montgomery, and represented that county in 1851 and 1853. In 1855, he was the Whig candidate for Congress in the District, and was defeated by James F. Dowdell, Esq. About this time, Mr. Watts was the acknowledged leader of his party, and in 1860, he was placed on the Bell and Everett ticket as Elector for the State at large, by which his Union sentiments were declared. After the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presi- dency, in November, 1860, Mr. Watts became a secessionist from the position Alabama had taken through her Legislature, prepara- tory to withdrawing from the Union. He served in the Conven- tion of 1861, which passed the Ordinance of Secession.
When war was proclaimed against the Southern States by Pres- ident Lincoln, Mr. Watts raised a regiment, of which he was elected Colonel. With his command, he first served at Pensa- cola, and in April, 1862, he participated in the battle of Shiloh, where his bravery and daring qualities under fire, gained for him a fine reputation in military circles, and throughout the whole country. He was warmly solicited to become a candidate for Gov- ernor in 1861, and strong appeals were made to him for this pur- pose, without regard to old party divisions, when he positively forbid the use of his name in the canvass. Yet, notwithstanding his refusal to be a candidate, a large number of votes were cast for him, as a testimony of public favor.
After Mr. Benjamin vacated the Department of Justice to act as Secretary of War, President Davis appointed Col. Watts Attor- ney-General of the Confederate States, which compelled his re- moval to Richmond. There he remained in the active and faith- ful discharge of his onerous public duties until he was elected Governor, in 1863, when he resigned. In his Executive admin- istration, he encountered the same obstacles and complaints which so greatly embarrassed his predecessor, whom he had superseded
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by a large majority. The war was still raging, and after the cap- ture of Vicksburg, and the repulse at Gettysburg, in July, 1863, the cause of the South, for the first time, began to assume a dis- couraging aspect, which rendered the conduct of public affairs still more difficult, and the task of meeting all emergencies to the satisfaction of the people utterly impracticable. All that possibly could be done by the most vigilant address, and the most careful use of means at his command for the public defense, was accom- plished by Gov. Watts in the course of his administration. He applied himself with energy to the work in hand, and guarded the interests of Alabama to the best of his ability.
Never was there a more trying or critical juncture in the expe- rience of any public man. The popularity of Col. Watts was almost without precedent when called to the Executive. His courage had been exhibited in the field, and his wise counsels in the cabinet. Much was expected of him. The South began to stagger from exhaustion. More than half a million of her citi- zens had been withdrawn from the pursuits of agriculture and other avocations necessary to subsistence. Families at home had toiled to supply clothing to the army. Every spare yard of cloth of domestic manufacture had been made' up into garments, and forwarded to relatives in camp, who stood as a wall of defense, to keep back the Northern millions from devastating Southern soil and Southern firesides. From the boy of sixteen to the sire of sixty, a requisition was made for the public service. Plantations were left without managers, and homes without a male protector. Confederate tax-gatherers seized the cotton, the corn, the wheat, potatoes, the hogs, the lard, the cattle, by tenths, after a scant production from a deficiency of well directed labor; and then came the money tax to cover nearly all the rest, in per cent- age on land, and slaves, and merchandise, and nearly all descrip- tions of property and investments-assessed and collected under large penalties, and yet with no murmuring. by the people, until it was perceived, from some fatal errors in Confederate policy, and from idle dissensions about State Sovereignty, that the Southern horizon was growing dark, and the last ray of hope was almost extinguished. It was the fortune of Gov. Watts to occupy a posi- tion of high responsibility at such a period, and to feel the anxie- ties which it naturally inspired, while he had not the material power to relieve the people from their heavy burdens, or to roll back the disastrous flood likely to sweep down the Southern States into the gulf of annihilation.
Such was the sad picture when Gov. Watts took the helm of State, only to be completed by the surrender of the Confederate armies in April, 1865, during the second year of his administra- tion. Then followed the Provisional Government, the presence
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of Federal bayonets at the Capitol, to give supremacy to the negro over the white man, under the Reconstruction Acts of Con- gress, and compulsory amendments to the Constitution. By the magic of Radicalism, he suddenly found himself no longer the Governor of a sovereign State, but a disfranchised rebel of a pro- vince under military rule, with commissions in vogue superseding the laws, and convicting white men of high crimes and misde- meanors on negro testimony. From being the master of slaves, Gov. Watts found his condition reversed, and that his slaves were his master at the ballot-box. The originality of the relation was still further enhanced by the fact that, while he was rendered in- capable of holding office of any kind, by Congressional prohibi- tion, his former slaves were politically competent to be Governors, Legislators, and Judges. Such was the condition of things which preceded and followed his exit from the Chief Magistracy of Ala- bama. In all this, his manhood and his honor have been pre- served intact.
Enough has been said for the purposes of history to place Gov. Watts in a proper light before the public. Something may be added as to his domestic relations, and his private character. He married the daughter of Wade Allen, Esq., a wealthy citizen of Montgomery. For many years he has been a member of the Baptist Church, always contributing freely to the support of the ministry, and to all charitable and benevolent enterprises. Much to his praise, he has always been a strict temperance man, and never in his whole life offered another a drink of ardent spirits. His example in this respect is worthy of all commendation. His disposition is frank and cordial, and a noble sympathy for the wel- fare of his fellow-men pervades his whole character. His physi- cal powers are of great endurance, and the faculties of his mind are of a very high order. At the bar his standing is in the very first rank. He resides in the city of Montgomery, and has a lu- crative practice in his profession.
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CHAPTER XLII.
Grouping of Characters and Events.
The remaining portion of this work must be condensed, and the sketches abridged far beyond the wishes and design of the author, owing to the space occupied by preceding chapters. Yet the outline will be sufficient, as a record, for public use. Narra- tive and biography will be blended in a brief space, without re- gard to any special arrangement of names or dates.
JOHN ANTHONY WINSTON was born and raised in North- Alabama. Soon after attaining his majority, he brought his slaves to Sumter, where he established a large plantation, including some of the richest lands in that county. In 1839, he was elected a Representative in the Legislature, from Sumter, again in 1840, and also in 1842. In 1843, he was elected to the Senate, of which body he was chosen President, in 1845. He was reelected to the Senate, in 1847, and was again the presiding officer. From that time until 1852 he continued in the Senate, and, in 1853, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Governor, and elected.
In 1845, he was a candidate for reelection, and was opposed by the Hon. George D. Shortridge. The canvass was marked by un- usual activity and bitterness-both competitors addressing the peo- ple in various parts of the State-the principles of the Democratic party represented and supported by Gov. Winston, and those of the Know-Nothings, or American party, defended by Judge Short- ridge. The result was the reëlection of Governor Winston by a majority of about 12,000 votes.
It is proper to state that he was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention, in 1848, which nominated Gen. Cass for the Presi- dency. His able speech in that body vindicating the good faith of the National Democracy, at once gave him quite a reputation in other States. While in the Senate, and at sessions where he was not the presiding officer, he was the acknowledged leader of the Democratic party, and fully sustained himself and his principles in every discussion when it became necessary.
When there was some division in the Democratic party as to the nominee for President, in 1860, he was prominent in the
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delegation from Alabama in the Charleston Convention, and was afterward placed on the Douglas Electoral Ticket. Soon after the commencement of the war, in 1861, Gov. Winston raised a regi- ment, which he commanded, at Yorktown, while in service in Virginia; but his health, already delicate, now rapidly failing from exposure in camp, he was compelled to resign and return home. After the surrender of the Confederate armies, and the partial reorganization of Alabama, he was elected by the Legisla- ture, at the session of 1866-'7, a Senator in the Congress of the United States, over Gen. George S. Houston; but, from circum- stances well known to the country, arising from the action of Con- gress relative to the Southern States lately in rebellion, he did not take his seat. He still resides at his plantation in Sumter, passing most of his Winters, probably, in Mobile, where, for many years, he was a member of the large commission house of John A. Winston & Co.
While in the Legislature, he frequently engaged in debate. His manner was peculiarly sarcastic and biting when he was pro- voked by an antagonist. Possessed of large and varied information on public affairs, and on the principles of Government, he never failed to exert a considerable influence in the deliberative bodies of which he was a member. He is essentially a man of note, and has left the impress of his name and opinions on the legislative record of Alabama. A special notice of his administration as Governor, from 1853 to 1857, appears in another part of this work.
[NOTE .- The above sketch was written more than twelve months before Gov. Winston died in January, 1872. Testimonials of respect were given by the Ex- ecutive and Legislature. ]
JOHN WILLIAM AUGUSTINE SANFORD, the present Attorney- General of Alabama, is a native of Georgia. He was educated at Oglethorpe University, where he received a diploma of gradu- ation, and subsequently entered Dane Law College of Harvard University, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. After completing his course of study at this institution, he came to Montgomery, Ala- bama, where he read law in the office of Nathan Harris, Esq., and in due time was admitted to the bar. He has since continued to reside in that city, engaged in the practice of his profession.
In 1856, Mr. Sanford was an Elector on the Buchanan and Breckinridge ticket, and thoroughly canvassed the Third Con- gressional District. In 1860, he married Miss Sallie M. Taylor, the youngest daughter of Col. William H. Taylor, of Mont- gomery.
Being a Democrat of the State Rights school, Mr. Sanford made every exertion to secure the election of Breckinridge and Lane in 1860. And after the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presi-
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dency, he advocated the secession of Alabama as the most effect- ive mode of protecting her people, and vindicating her rights.
At the commencement of the war, in April, 1861, he volun- teered in the Third Alabama Regiment, the first that left the State to form the Northern Army of Virginia. He was appointed Quartermaster of the regiment by Col. Lomax, and served in that capacity until the Winter of 1862, when he resigned, and re- turned to Alabama, where he succeeded in raising a regiment, under authority of the Secretary of War. He was chosen Lieu- tenant-Colonel of the Third Battalion of Hilliard's Legion. Sub- sequently, these battalions were formed into a brigade, commanded by Gen. Gracie. Col. Sanford participated in the battles; and when the legion was consolidated into regiments, he was pro- moted to the command of the Sixtieth Alabama Regiment. He served through the campaign of East-Tennessee, and, being or- dered to Virginia, he was in the engagements around Richmond and Petersburg, and at Drury's Bluff, and shared in the battles preceding the surrender of Gen. Lee at Appomattox, April 9, 1865.
Returning to his home in Alabama, Col. Sanford resumed the practice of his profession; and in November, 1865, was elected Attorney-General. In July, 1868, he and others were displaced by Gen. Meade, the District Commander, to make room for offi- cers under the Government established by Congress for Alabama. Upon his expulsion, he addressed a letter to Gen. Meade, assert- ing the right of Alabama to establish a Government for herself- commenting on the iniquity of the Reconstruction laws, and protest- ing against the tyranny and usurpation of the Federal authorities. This letter was generally published, and met the approbation of our people, so far as public opinion could be inferred by his nom- ination in September, 1870, by a large State Convention, and by his election by a large popular vote in November of that year.
Such is the honorable record of the distinguished Attorney- Goneral of Alabama.
Amid the great rush on the public treasury for high salaries, and still increasing compensation, which of late years has been made by office-seekers and office-holders, without regard to any fixed principles in the contract, it is refreshing to witness an hon- orable exception, as in the following letter:
STATE OF ALABAMA, OFFICE OF ATTORNEY-GENERAL, MONTGOMERY, February 16, 1872.
Hon. John P. Hubbard, Speaker of the House of Representatives :
SIR-During its last session the General Assembly appropriated twenty-eight hundred dollars to pay the salary of the Attorney-General. This action was in- duced by its knowledge and just appreciation of the labors, the duties and re- sponsibility that devolve on that officer; and also, by the desire that the compensa-
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tion of the subordinate officials of the Executive Department of the State should approach equality.
This sum was allowed for the services of the late Attorney-General, for the fiscal years ending, respectively, on the 30th of September, 1869, and on the 30th day of September, 1870, and was paid to him.
The present Constitution of the State went into operation on the 13th day of July, 1868. It provides that the salaries of certain officers "shall neither be in- creased nor diminished during the period for which they shall have been elected." Among them is the Attorney-General. His salary was fixed by section 109 of the Revised Code, at the sum of two thousand dollars. This section has not been amended. And as the salary of the Attorney-General could not be increased, under the Constitution by the mere act of appropriation, approved since my in- duction into office, I have declined to receive the additional eight hundred dollars.
As the House of Representatives is about to consider the "bill of appropria- tions for the fiscal year ending on the 30th September, 1372," I deem it proper to make this statement.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN W. A. SANFORD.
ABRAM MARTIN was born and educated in South Carolina, whence he removed to Tennessee, and afterward to Alabama, set- tling in Montgomery as a lawyer.
On the death of Judge William R. Pickett, in 1837, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. At various times Judge Martin has executed with ability and faithfulness a number of honorable commissions from the State. He has always maintained a high rank at the bar, and for usefulness as a citizen. At a ven- erable age, his influence is still exerted for the public good. He was a brother of the late John Martin, who for many years was President of the Branch Bank at Montgomery.
N. H. R. DAWSON, of Dallas, served in the Legislature through the sessions of 1863 and 1864. He was a delegate to the Demo- cratic National Conventions in 1860. His father, the late Law- rence E. Dawson, Esq., is honorably mentioned by Judge O'Neall, in the "Bench and Bar of South Carolina," as a lawyer of great ability and eloquence. Possessed of fine talents and culture, the son resides at Selma, in the meridian of life, and is a partner of Gen. E. W. Pettus in the practice of law.
AUGUSTUS B. FANNIN, of Macon, was formerly a Representa- tive in the Legislature of Georgia, and on his retiring from that body, in 1859, a complimentary resolution, offered by Mr. George N. Lester, of Cobb, was adopted: "That we part with our fellow Representative with sincere regret, and that go where he may, our best wishes for his prosperity and happiness will ever attend him."
Coming to Alabama soon thereafter, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where his expansive views, his lofty bearing and ripe statesmanship, soon made him a man of note.
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In politics, he was an old line Whig, and supported Bell and Ev- erett, in 1860. But after Alabama seceded, he did not hesitate to espouse her measures of self-vidication.
Prudent in his arrangements, and stripped of property by the war, he took out a policy of insurance on his life for $10,000, to save his family from pecuniary distress in case of his death. While on a visit to Montgomery, in December, 1868, he died suddenly at the house of his brother-in-law, Fort Hargrove, Esq., much lamented by all who knew him.
WILLIAM H. BARNES came from Georgia to Alabama, and was admitted to the bar in 1845, locating at Dadeville, whence, in 1857, he removed to LaFayette, where he resided until 1869, and then came to Opelika, where he now resides, in the successful practice of his profession. He was a member of the Convention of 1861, and in August of that year he was elected to the Senate, in which he served during the war, and was reelected in 1865. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, his able reports con- tributed much to the dispatch of the public business.
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