William Bowen Campbell (February 1, 1807 – August 19, 1867) was an American politician and soldier. He served as the 14th governor of Tennessee from 1851 to 1853, and was the state's last Whig governor. He also served four terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1837 to 1843, and from 1866 to 1867. During the Mexican–American War, Campbell commanded the First Regiment Tennessee Volunteers, known as the "Bloody First" for its high casualty rate. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Campbell opposed secession, and briefly served as a general in the Union Army. Early life Campbell was born on Mansker's Creek in Sumner County, Tennessee, to David and Catherine Bowen Campbell. He studied law at Abingdon, Virginia, with his father's cousin, Virginia Governor David Campbell, and attended lectures at Winchester Law School. He returned to Tennessee in 1829 in order to establish a law practice at Carthage, in Smith County. He was admitted to the bar in 1830. In 1831, he was appointed attorney general for a state circuit, and moved to Sparta, Tennessee. Military and political career In 1835, Campbell moved back to Carthage, and was elected to Smith County's seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives. He resigned his seat in 1836, however, in order to fight in the Second Seminole War. He served as a captain under Colonel William Trousdale. In 1837, Campbell successfully ran against Trousdale for the state's 6th District seat in the United States House of Representatives. The campaign was "spirited," though there was no bitterness between the two candidates. In 1839, Campbell ran for reelection, again defeating Trousdale. He ran unopposed in 1841. Near the end of his third term in 1843 he resigned and returned to his law practice in Carthage. That same year, he was appointed major-general of the Tennessee militia. Upon the outbreak of the Mexican–American War in 1846, Campbell answered Tennessee Governor Aaron V. Brown's call for volunteers. He was elected colonel of the First Regiment Tennessee Volunteers on June 3, 1846, and arrived with his regiment in Texas the following month. At the Battle of Monterrey later that year, this company lost one-third of its men in an assault on the town's citadel, earning the nickname, the "Bloody First." Campbell's company also saw action at the Siege of Veracruz and the Battle of Cerro Gordo in 1847. After the war, Campbell was appointed