William B. Bate
Encyclopedia
William Brimage Bate was the governor of Tennessee from 1883 to 1887 and subsequently a United States Senator
from Tennessee
from 1887 until his death. He served in the Confederate
forces in the American Civil War
, attaining the rank
of major general and commanding a division
in the Army of Tennessee
.
). He was a clerk for a steamboat company and edited a newspaper. He served in the Mexican War (1846–48) as a first lieutenant in the 3rd Tennessee Volunteer Infantry.
He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives
from 1849 to 1851. He graduated from law school
in Lebanon, Tennessee
in 1852 and was admitted to the bar
in that year, establishing his practice in Gallatin, Tennessee
. He became district attorney
general for the Nashville
district
in 1854.
and the outbreak of the Civil War, Bate became the colonel
of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. He first saw combat action in July 1861 at the First Battle of Manassas in the reserve brigade of Theophilus Holmes in the Confederate Army of the Potomac.
Returning to the Western Theater
later in 1861, Bate led the 2nd Tennessee in the Army of Mississippi
at the Battle of Shiloh
in April 1862. He was wounded severely in the leg during the first day's fighting, and an Army surgeon told him it would be necessary to amputate his leg to save his life. Bate drew his pistol, threatening to shoot the surgeon, and kept his leg. Although he survived, he was incapacitated for several months, and walked with a limp the rest of his life. He was promoted to brigadier general on October 2, 1862, subsequently commanded a brigade
of infantry
in numerous battles and campaigns of the Army of Tennessee, including the Tullahoma Campaign
and the Battle of Chickamauga
.
He distinguished himself in the Chattanooga Campaign and was rewarded with a promotion to major general to rank from February 24, 1864. That summer, he commanded a division in the Atlanta Campaign
. He commanded his division assigned to Hardees Corps CSA in the battles around Atlanta in July and August 1864. At the Battle of Utoy Creek, Georgia, he was attached to Lt. Gen. Steven D. Lee's Corps, CSA, and used a deception plan that foiled the main Union attack. His division received a citation for defending the attack of Schofield's XXIII Army Corps, USA and Palmer's XIV Army Corps, USA, on Aug 5-6, 1864. He was wounded in a skirmish at Willis' Grist Mill at South Utoy Creek on 10 August 1864, near the Sandtown Road (now Cascade Road SW, near Willis Mill Road and what is now Adams Park in Atlanta), then treated at Utoy Church, which was serving as a field hospital for said battle, and finally recuperated in Barnesville, Georgia, until rejoining the army in October 1864 at the time of the Confederate invasion of Tennessee. He participated in the 1865 Carolinas Campaign
. Bate and his men surrendered at Bennett Place
near Greensboro, North Carolina
. During the war, he was wounded three times and had six horses shot from beneath him.
were eventually restored to him. He was elected
governor
as a Democrat
in 1882 over the incumbent
Republican
, Alvin Hawkins
, and re-elected in 1884 and is credited with having found a satisfactory solution to the debt
problems of the state
.
His subsequent four elections to the U.S. Senate were by the Tennessee General Assembly
, the method of choosing U.S. Senators prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1887, 1893, 1899, and 1905, one of only three Tennessee senators to be elected to more than three terms and one of two prior to the adoption of popular election to the office. As a Senator, he served as the chairman of the Committee on the Improvement of the Mississippi River
and Its Tributaries in the 53rd Congress and the chairman of the Committee on Public Health
and the National Quarantine in two later Congresses
.
He died only five days into his fourth term, in Washington, D.C.
. His funeral
was held in the Senate chamber of the United States Capitol
, and he is buried in Nashville's Mount Olivet Cemetery.
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
from 1887 until his death. He served in the Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
forces in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, attaining the rank
Military rank
Military rank is a system of hierarchical relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms...
of major general and commanding a division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
in the Army of Tennessee
Army of Tennessee
The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. It was formed in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865, participating in most of the significant battles in the Western Theater...
.
Early life and career
William Bate was born in Bledsoe's Lick (now Castalian Springs, TennesseeCastalian Springs, Tennessee
Castalian Springs is an unincorporated community in Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. It is located along Tennessee State Route 25 about seven miles east of Gallatin, Tennessee. The area has its own post office. The Zip Code for Castalian Springs is 37031...
). He was a clerk for a steamboat company and edited a newspaper. He served in the Mexican War (1846–48) as a first lieutenant in the 3rd Tennessee Volunteer Infantry.
He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional requirements:...
from 1849 to 1851. He graduated from law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
in Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon is a city in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the United States. The population was 20,235 at the 2000 census. It serves as the county seat of Wilson County. Lebanon is located in middle Tennessee, approximately 25 miles east of downtown Nashville. Local residents have also called it...
in 1852 and was admitted to the bar
Bar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
in that year, establishing his practice in Gallatin, Tennessee
Gallatin, Tennessee
Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States, along a navigable tributary of the Cumberland River. The population was 23,230 at the 2000 census. Named for U.S...
. He became district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
general for the Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
district
District
Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
in 1854.
Civil War
Following the passage of Tennessee's ordinance of secessionOrdinance of Secession
The Ordinance of Secession was the document drafted and ratified in 1860 and 1861 by the states officially seceding from the United States of America...
and the outbreak of the Civil War, Bate became the colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. He first saw combat action in July 1861 at the First Battle of Manassas in the reserve brigade of Theophilus Holmes in the Confederate Army of the Potomac.
Returning to the Western Theater
Western Theater of the American Civil War
This article presents an overview of major military and naval operations in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.-Theater of operations:...
later in 1861, Bate led the 2nd Tennessee in the Army of Mississippi
Army of Mississippi
There were three organizations known as the Army of Mississippi in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. -Army of Mississippi :This army, at times known by the names Army of the West or Army of the...
at the Battle of Shiloh
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
in April 1862. He was wounded severely in the leg during the first day's fighting, and an Army surgeon told him it would be necessary to amputate his leg to save his life. Bate drew his pistol, threatening to shoot the surgeon, and kept his leg. Although he survived, he was incapacitated for several months, and walked with a limp the rest of his life. He was promoted to brigadier general on October 2, 1862, subsequently commanded a brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
of infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
in numerous battles and campaigns of the Army of Tennessee, including the Tullahoma Campaign
Tullahoma Campaign
The Tullahoma Campaign or Middle Tennessee Campaign was fought between June 24 and July 3, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Maj. Gen. William S...
and the Battle of Chickamauga
Battle of Chickamauga
The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign...
.
He distinguished himself in the Chattanooga Campaign and was rewarded with a promotion to major general to rank from February 24, 1864. That summer, he commanded a division in the Atlanta Campaign
Atlanta Campaign
The Atlanta Campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May...
. He commanded his division assigned to Hardees Corps CSA in the battles around Atlanta in July and August 1864. At the Battle of Utoy Creek, Georgia, he was attached to Lt. Gen. Steven D. Lee's Corps, CSA, and used a deception plan that foiled the main Union attack. His division received a citation for defending the attack of Schofield's XXIII Army Corps, USA and Palmer's XIV Army Corps, USA, on Aug 5-6, 1864. He was wounded in a skirmish at Willis' Grist Mill at South Utoy Creek on 10 August 1864, near the Sandtown Road (now Cascade Road SW, near Willis Mill Road and what is now Adams Park in Atlanta), then treated at Utoy Church, which was serving as a field hospital for said battle, and finally recuperated in Barnesville, Georgia, until rejoining the army in October 1864 at the time of the Confederate invasion of Tennessee. He participated in the 1865 Carolinas Campaign
Carolinas Campaign
The Carolinas Campaign was the final campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. In January 1865, Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman advanced north from Savannah, Georgia, through the Carolinas, with the intention of linking up with Union forces in Virginia. The defeat of ...
. Bate and his men surrendered at Bennett Place
Bennett Place
Bennett Place, sometimes known as Bennett Farm, in Durham, North Carolina was the site of the largest surrender of Confederate soldiers ending the American Civil War, on April 26, 1865.-History:...
near Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
. During the war, he was wounded three times and had six horses shot from beneath him.
Postbellum career
After the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, Bate returned to the practice of law; as was the case of many prominent ex-Confederates, full civil rightsCivil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
were eventually restored to him. He was elected
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in 1882 over the incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, Alvin Hawkins
Alvin Hawkins
Alvin Hawkins was governor of Tennessee from 1881 to 1883.-Biography:He was a native of Kentucky who had been brought to Tennessee at age four. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1843 and opened a law practice...
, and re-elected in 1884 and is credited with having found a satisfactory solution to the debt
Debt
A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...
problems of the state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
.
His subsequent four elections to the U.S. Senate were by the Tennessee General Assembly
Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional structure:According to the Tennessee State Constitution of 1870, the General Assembly is a bicameral legislature and consists of a Senate of thirty-three members and a House of Representatives of...
, the method of choosing U.S. Senators prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures...
. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1887, 1893, 1899, and 1905, one of only three Tennessee senators to be elected to more than three terms and one of two prior to the adoption of popular election to the office. As a Senator, he served as the chairman of the Committee on the Improvement of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and Its Tributaries in the 53rd Congress and the chairman of the Committee on Public Health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
and the National Quarantine in two later Congresses
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
.
He died only five days into his fourth term, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. His funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
was held in the Senate chamber of the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
, and he is buried in Nashville's Mount Olivet Cemetery.
See also
- List of American Civil War generals