Soldier and politician (1835-1910) who was as colonel in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War and fought at the Battle of Gettysburg, was elected Governor of Alabama from 1894 to 1896, and served as brigadier general in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War. TLS signed “Wm. C. Oates,” two pages, 8 x 11, State of Alabama Executive Department letterhead, October 1, 1896. Typed letter to Lawrence F. Bower, with corrections made throughout the text in Oates's own hand. In part: "There is a book called Brewer's history of Alabama which can possibly be bought in some book-store in this State. That will give you pretty largely the information you want up to about fifteen years ago. Commencing after the close of the war the first Governor, who was only provisional, and appointed by the President was Louis E. Parsons, who is dead." He goes on to list the next eight governors of Alabama, as well as where further information about them may be had. He closes with a partially handwritten line, "You will find a pretty correct account of me up to the time I was last elected to Congress in 1892 in Vol. 2, p. 244 of The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Since then—1894—I was elected Governor of Ala." In fine condition.
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