Henry Watkins Allen was an American officer and politician. He took part in the Texas Revolution and American Civil War, and later served as a governor of Louisiana.
Background
Henry Watkins Allen was born on April 29, 1820 in Prince Edward County, Virginia, United States. He was the son of Doctor Thomas and Ann Watkins Allen. In 1833 Doctor Allen removed to Kay County, Missouri, with his then motherless children.
Education
Allen was placed by his father in a store in Lexington, Missouri, with the intention of making him a merchant. The boy, however, finding business distasteful, entered Marion College, Missouri, where he remained from 1835-1837. In 1854 he went to Harvard to study law.
At the age of seventeen, Allen established himself as a teacher in Grand Gulf, Mississippi. His nights were given to the study of law, and he soon entered that profession. He was gaining a practice when his legal career was interrupted by a call for volunteers for the Texas army issued by President Houston in 1842. Romantically inclined, Allen joined the rush of Southern boys for Texas and remained there for six months, showing a marked aptitude for military affairs.
In 1853 he was elected to the Louisiana legislature. Still romantic, his sympathies were so engaged in the Italian struggle for freedom that he sailed with the intention of enlisting under Garibaldi. On reaching Europe he found that the war was over and he then made an extensive tour of the continent. The result of his experiences was a book, "The Travels of a Sugar Planter" (1861). While away from home he was re-elected to the legislature. On his return to Louisiana, he engaged in various public matters and gained wide popularity.
He seemed destined for a successful career in politics when the opening of the Civil War changed his life. He enlisted at the very beginning as a private but was quickly elected lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Louisiana Regiment. His first service was as commander of a part of the regiment at Ship Island off the Mississippi coast. Here he suppressed an incipient mutiny and drilled his troops into efficiency. In March 1862 he became colonel of the 4th Louisiana, which was ordered to join Beauregard in Tennessee. He led his regiment at Shiloh, on April 6, 1862, and was wounded in the face but refused to leave the field. In the defense of Vicksburg in 1862 he played a conspicuous part. He accompanied Breckinridge in the expedition against Baton Rouge, then held by the Unionists, as the commander of a Louisiana brigade. In the attack on Baton Rouge, on August 5, 1862, Allen distinguished himself by his gallantry but was badly wounded by a shell fragment that shattered his right leg. He refused to have the limb amputated and succeeded in saving it, but at the cost of terrible suffering and eventually of his health. Although virtually incapacitated for field duty he was appointed a brigadier-general in September 1863 and ordered to the Trans-Mississippi Department.
Soon after his arrival at Shreveport, he was elected governor of Louisiana, almost by acclamation. Allen's opportunity had arrived. When he was inaugurated on January 25, 1864, he found the state in a desperate condition. East of the Mississippi it was overrun by the Unionists and lost; west of the river the people were starving. Everything was in chaos. Allen immediately went to work to save the almost hopeless situation. Gathering sugar and cotton, he exported them to Mexico and exchanged them for the commodities of which the state stood in dire need: dry-goods, cotton and woolen cards, machinery, and many other things. Luxuries were rigidly excluded. He established a system of state stores, factories and foundries, and a dispensary where medicines were sold at a low price. Some of them were manufactured by Allen himself: he had a turpentine distillery, a castor-oil works, and a place for making carbonate of soda. Importing iron ore from Texas, he made various articles of iron. By accepting Louisiana money at the state stores, he largely restored its value; and Confederate currency, almost worthless elsewhere, had purchasing power west of the Mississippi. Quantities of ordnance stores and army supplies were brought from Mexico in mule wagons driven by Mexicans and Negroes. Food and clothing were distributed to suffering. The state actually advertised for the names of disabled Louisiana soldiers who needed support. The sale of alcoholic beverages was stopped in Allen's realm. The distillation of grain was permitted only in the state distillery, and the alcohol was used only for medicinal purposes. Such of the state charitable institutions as continued to exist were supported by cotton sales.
One of his greatest services came after Lee's surrender. The Trans-Mississippi Department was actually stronger in 1865 than it had been before. The Confederates had defeated every effort of the Unionists to penetrate into west Louisiana and Texas and were obtaining supplies of all kinds from Mexico. Kirby Smith, the military commander, contemplated continuing the war. His army was still intact and, materially, was in good condition. When first summoned by the Unionists to surrender, he prepared a message of defiance. Allen persuaded Smith not to send this message but to wait. His judgment was justified by circumstances. So great was the confidence felt in him that he was empowered by Texas, Arkansas, and the Confederate governor of Missouri to conduct negotiations for surrender. Soon the army began to break up and then the military authorities gave up the contest. It is probable that but for Allen's stand for peace, Louisiana would have suffered invasion and devastation.
With the struggle over, Allen felt that he could no longer remain in Louisiana; his prominence both as a military commander and a war governor marked him out for punishment. Accordingly, like many other Confederates, he decided to try his fortunes in a foreign land. The decision was stern, for he was almost penniless and in bad health, as he had never recovered from his wounds. Borrowing a few hundred dollars from a friend, he made his way to Mexico, where he was well received by Maximilian. His popularity in Louisiana remained so great that he was proposed for governor in October 1865, although ineligible and an exile. In Mexico City Allen established an English newspaper that gave every promise of permanency. But his health soon gave way completely and most of his career in Mexico was a battle with death. He thought of going to Europe for medical aid but died in Mexico City on April 22, 1866.
Allen was a member of the Know-Nothing (American) party. In 1859, he transferred to the Democratic party and became floor leader.
Views
Quotations:
"If possible, forget the past. Look forward to the future."
Connections
Allen fell in love with Salome Crane, the young daughter of a Mississippi planter. Parental opposition led to an elopement and a duel in which Allen was seriously wounded. Crane eventually forgave his daughter and established the young couple on a plantation in Claiborne County, Mississippi. Here Allen lived happily for several years until the death of his wife. He then removed to Tensas Parish, Louisiana, and in 1852 to West Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was in ill health for some time but eventually recovered.