issue confronted Governor Watts: the opening negotiations for peace. A faction in the Alabama House of Representatives introduced resolutions in favor of the negotiations. Governor Watts was also faced with rising desertion rates, states' rights issues, including the controversy over the conscription of the cadets at the University of Alabama, the issue of which state civil officials were exempt from conscription, the defense of Mobile, blockade-running, and cotton trading with Europe. During the winter of 1864–65, Governor Watts had to deal with the increasing number of sacrifices demanded of his state, the breakdown of authority, the drain on war power, and an evaporating hope of victory, all of which contributed to the state's war-weariness. Governor Watts was aware of his ineffectiveness and unpopularity by this time and made no effort toward re-election, although he continued to talk optimistically about the military situation. Watts was arrested for treason to the union in Union Springs, Alabama, on May 1, 1865. He was released a few weeks later and returned to Montgomery. He died twenty-seven years later, on September 16, 1892, in Montgomery, Alabama. Family On January 10, 1842, he wed Eliza Brown Allen, and they had ten children. Watts was the great-great-grandfather of white nationalist Dr. William Luther Pierce. References 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 Alabama Governors: Thomas Hill Watts 1819 births 1892 deaths Alabama Secession Delegates of 1861 American people of English descent American people of Welsh descent American planters Executive members of the Cabinet of the Confederate States of America 19th-century American politicians People of Alabama in the American Civil War Democratic Party governors of Alabama People from Butler County, Alabama Confederate States of America state governors American slave owners