William Calvin Oates was born on November 30, 1835, in Pike County, Alabama. His father's ancestors, of Welsh descent, had settled in South Carolina before the Revolutionary War, and his father, William Oates, had moved into Alabama some years before the birth of his son. His mother, Sarah (Sellers) Oates, had an Irish and French heritage. The family lived in extreme poverty.
Wlliam Oates attended a country school for only a few months at rare intervals. Later in life, he graduated from the Lawrenceville academy and studied law at Eufaula.
William Oates was admitted to the bar in 1858 and began practice in Abbeville in 1859, supplementing his small income by editing a Democratic newspaper. He raised a company of infantry for the Confederate army in 1861. It became a part of the 15th Alabama Infantry, and he served as its captain until 1863 when, having commanded the regiment at Sharpsburg (Antietam), he received the rank of colonel upon the recommendation of General Hood. He held the extreme right of the Confederate line during the assault on Little Round Top at the battle of Gettysburg, and, when his regiment had been transferred to the west, he took part in the battles of Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain. In 1864 he was assigned to command the 48th Alabama Infantry and returned to Virginia. He was wounded at Brown's Ferry and lost his right arm at Fussell's Mill near Petersburg in August 1864. At that time he had been recommended for promotion to the rank of brigadier-general.
In 1865, William resumed his law practice and entered politics. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1868, served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1870 to 1872, and in 1875 was chairman of the judicial committee in the state constitutional convention. He was elected to Congress from the 3rd district in 1880, reelected six times, and resigned in 1894, when he was elected governor of his state. In Congress he was the only member of the Alabama delegation to support Cleveland in his demand for the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. In 1890, when the Farmers' Alliance was strong, he bitterly opposed the sub-treasury scheme and led the hardmoney forces of the state.
Oates's gubernatorial campaign of 1894 against Reuben F. Kolb was one of the most exciting in the history of the state after the Reconstruction period. As "the one-armed hero" of Henry County he stumped the state for sound money and succeeded in carrying the election by a good majority. His two years in office were not years of achievement. It was not an easy time to be the governor of an agricultural state, when prices were low, money scarce, and taxes hard to collect. The state could not borrow money, and part of the time salaries were unpaid. In 1897 he was a candidate for the nomination of his party to the United States Senate, an honor that he had refused seven years earlier, but the Silver men were in the saddle and gave the nomination to Gen. Edmund W. Pettus.
Made brigadier-general of volunteers by President McKinley, he served through the Spanish-American War at Camp Meade, Pennsylvania, where he commanded three different brigades. He served as a delegate-at-large to the state constitutional convention in 1901, where he acted as chairman of the committee on the legislative department and of the committee on suffrage and elections. He was one of the few men who opposed the soldier and grandfather clauses and demanded an equal standard of fitness for members of both races who should be granted suffrage.
The last years of his life were spent in the practice of law at Montgomery and in writing. He published "Gettysburg - the Battle on the Right" in Southern Historical Society Papers (1878) and "Industrial Development of the South, " North American Review (1895). He also published "Speeches of Hon. W. C. Oates in the House of Representatives", 1880 to 1894, and wrote his recollections of the Civil War, "The War between the Union and the Confederacy" (1905).
Being a colonel during the American Civil War, William Oates participated in such important battles: the Battles of Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor. Oates served as the 29th Governor of Alabama (1894 - 1896). Oates's famous literary works are: Gettysburg - the Battle on the Right (1878); Industrial Development of the South (1895); Speeches of Hon. W. C. Oates in the House of Representatives; The War between the Union and the Confederacy (1905).
William Oates was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives (1770-1772).
Oates was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, where he served seven consecutive terms (1880-1894).
In the state constitutional convention he was chairman of the judicial committee (1875); and chairman of the committee on the legislative department and of the committee on suffrage and elections (1901).
During the American Civil War William Oates was wounded near Petersburg, Virginia, and lost his right arm.
William Oates was married to Sallie (Toney) Oates on March 28, 1882. They had one son.
