William Calvin Oates, governor of Alabama, was born in Pike county, Ala., Dec. 1, 1835; son of William and Sarah (Sellers) Oates; grandson of Stephen Oates and of Mathew Sellers, and a descendant of Welsh ancestors on the paternal side, and of Irish and French ancestors on the maternal side. His father, a native of South Carolina, removed to Montgomery, Ala., in 1828 and soon after to Pike county, where be became a planter, and married in 1834. William led a roving life in Louisiana and Texas, 1851-55, engaged in teaching school in Henry county, Ala., attended the high school at Lawrenceville, and studied law in Eufaula, Ala., 1855-58. He was admitted to the bar in the winter of 1858-59, and practised in Abbeville, 1859-61. He edited a Democratic newspaper in 1880, and in 1861 entered the Confederate army, as captain in the 15th Alabama infantry. He served in twenty-seven of the forty engagements of this regiment and commanded the regiment from the battle of Sharpsburg until be was transferred to the 48th Alabama infantry, July 1, 1864, having been promoted colonel in April, 1863. He was wounded six times and lost his right arm at Fussell's Mills, near Richmond, Va., Aug 16, 1864, which prevented his further advancement in the army. He resumed his law practice in Abbeville in 1865; was a delegate to the Democratic national convention in New York in 1868; a representative in the Alabama legislature, 1870-72, serving as chairman of the committee on ways and means, and was chairman of the judiciary committee of the state constitutional convention of 1875. He was married, March 28, 1882, to Sallie, daughter of Col. Washington Toney of Eufaula. He was a Democratic representative from the third Alabama district in the 47th-53d congresses, 1891-94, resigning in November, 1894, on being elected governor of the state, which office he held, 1895-96. He was a candidate for U.S. senator in 1897, but was defeated by the Free Silver wing of the party, was commissioned by President McKinley brigadier-general of U.S. volunteers, May 28, 1898, and served in the Spanish-American war. He was elected from the state at large a delegate to the Alabama constitutional convention in April, 1901, in which body he bad a leading part during its four months' session. He engaged in the practice of his profession in Montgomery, Ala.

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans 1904

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