(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Watts, Thomas H. Inaugural Address of Gov. Watts. 16 pages. 8vo,...

(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Watts, Thomas H. Inaugural Address of Gov. Watts. 16 pages. 8vo, stitched; uncut with very wide and uneven margins, minor foxing and dampstaining. [Montgomery, AL], [1863]

Thomas Hill Watts served as the Confederate governor of Alabama from 1 December 1863 until his arrest by Union troops in May 1865. This rousing address asserts that "the clanger of war is heard all around us, and the sighs of our brave fill every passing breeze," but that "the sovereign people of Alabama . . . only exercised a right belonging to every free people." He describes the Emancipation Proclamation as being "as impotent as it was unconstitutional," and "a deliberate attempt to excite our slaves to insurrection. It is an invitation, yea an urgent solicitation, to an ignorant race, recognized as our property by the Constitution Lincoln has sworn to support to commit murder, rapine, rape, arson, and all manner of diabolical deeds." Parrish & Willingham 2665. 2 copies in OCLC (both in Alabama), and none traced at auction.