William B . Bate William Brimage Bate ( October 7 , 1826March 9 , 1905 ) was an American soldier and politician . He served as Governor of Tennessee from 1883 to 1887 , and subsequently served as a United States Senator from 1887 until his death . During the Civil War , he fought for the Confederacy , eventually rising to the rank of major general and commanding a division in the Army of Tennessee . Bate saw action in multiple engagements throughout the war , and was seriously wounded on two occasions . Early life and career . Bate was born in Bledsoe ' s Lick ( now Castalian Springs ) in Sumner County , Tennessee , the son of James H . Bate and Amanda Weatherred Bate . He attended a log schoolhouse known as the " Rural Academy . " When he was 15 , his father died , and he left home to find work . He was eventually hired as a clerk on the steamboat , " Saladin " , which traveled up and down the Cumberland , Ohio , and Mississippi rivers between Nashville and New Orleans . While his steamboat was docked in New Orleans , word of the outbreak of the Mexican - American War arrived , and Bate enlisted in a Louisiana regiment . When this enlistment ended a few months later , he reenlisted with the rank of lieutenant in Company I of the 3rd Tennessee Volunteer Infantry . He accompanied General Joseph Lane on several raids in pursuit of Santa Anna toward the end of the war . After the war , Bate returned to his family farm in Sumner County , and established a pro - Democratic Party newspaper , the " Tenth Legion " , in nearby Gallatin . He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1849 . In 1852 , he obtained his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law ( then located in Lebanon , Tennessee ) , and was admitted to the bar . After the state constitution was amended to allow for direct election of judicial officers in 1854 , Bate was elected attorney general for the Nashville district . Bate campaigned for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Johnson in 1855 , and was an elector for Southern Democratic presidential candidate John C . Breckinridge in 1860 . He was offered his district ' s nomination for Congress in 1859 , but declined . He was a staunch supporter of secession in the years leading up to the Civil War . Civil War . Following the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861 , Bate enlisted in a private company in Gallatin , and was elected as its captain . In early May , after Tennessee aligned itself with the Confederacy , Bate was elected colonel of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry . This unit was quickly dispatched to Virginia , where it was among the forces tasked with guarding the Richmond , Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad . Bate was present at the Battle of Aquia Creek on May 30 , 1861 . At the First Battle of Bull Run ( First Battle of Manassas ) in July 1861 , Bate was in the reserve brigade of Theophilus Holmes in the Confederate Army of the Potomac . Bate ' s unit remained on the Potomac River until February 1862 , when , at his request , his unit was transferred to the Western Theater . The 2nd Tennessee was placed under Albert Sidney Johnston ' s Army of Mississippi , which was conducting operations in the Corinth area . Bate ' s unit marched north with the Army of Mississippi in its attempt to check Ulysses S . Grant ' s advance at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862 . Bate was wounded severely in the leg during the first day ' s fighting , and an Army surgeon told him it would be necessary to amputate his leg to save his life . Bate drew his pistol , threatening to shoot the surgeon , and kept his leg . Although he survived , he was incapacitated for several months , and walked with a limp the rest of his life . Several of Bate ' s relatives were killed at Shiloh , and his horse was shot out from under him . After spending several months recovering in Columbus , Mississippi , Bate was promoted to brigadier general on October 2 , 1862 . He was initially given tasks away from the frontlines in North Alabama , but when he demanded a return to action , General Braxton Bragg created an infantry brigade for him to command in the Army of Tennessee . He took part in the Tullahoma Campaign , and saw action at the Battle of Hoover ' s Gap in June 1863 . During this period , Tennessee ' s Confederate leaders offered Bate the gubernatorial nomination to replace term - limited governor Isham G . Harris , but Bate declined , preferring to stay on the frontlines . At the Battle of Chickamauga , Bate engaged in a skirmish with enemy forces that opened the fighting on the evening of September 18 , 1863 . In the intense fighting that took place on the following day , three of his horses were shot out from under him . During the reorganization of the Army of Tennessee after this battle , Bate was given command of John C . Breckinridge ' s division ( Breckinridge had been promoted to Corps commander ) . Bate commanded this division at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in November 1863 . As a result of his service in the Chattanooga Campaign , Bate was promoted to major general on February 24 , 1864 . That summer , his division took part in the Atlanta Campaign , and saw action at the battles of Resaca , New Hope Church , Kennesaw Mountain , and Peachtree Creek , as well as the main Battle of Atlanta on July 22 . At the Battle of Utoy Creek on August 6 , Bate used a deception plan that foiled the main Union attack . He was shot in the knee in a skirmish at Willis ' Grist Mill near Atlanta on August 10 , and was bedridden in Barnesville , Georgia , for several weeks . Bate rejoined his division in time to take part in General John B . Hood ' s invasion of Tennessee in late 1864 . At the Battle of Franklin on November 30 , he lost nearly 20 % of his division , and his horse was again shot out from under him . He commanded General Benjamin F . Cheatham ' s right flank at the Battle of Nashville two weeks later . Bate ' s division remained with Cheatham ' s Corps during the 1865 Carolinas Campaign , during which he saw action at the Battle of Bentonville in March . Bate and his men surrendered at Bennett Place near Greensboro , North Carolina . During the war , he was wounded three times and had six horses shot from beneath him . Governor . After the war , Bate practiced law in Nashville in partnership with Colonel Frank Williams . He remained active in politics , serving on the State Democratic Committee and the National Democratic Executive Committee in the late 1860s . He was nominated for the U . S . Senate in 1875 , 1877 , and 1881 , and was an elector for presidential candidate Samuel J . Tilden in 1876 . Throughout the 1870s and early 1880s , Tennessee ' s state government struggled with debt , which had accumulated over previous decades as the state issued bonds to fund internal improvements and railroad construction . The Panic of 1873 decimated the state ' s property tax revenue , and the state defaulted on its bond debt in 1875 . By the early 1880s , the state Democratic Party had split into two factions over how to resolve the crisis : those who sought full repayment of the debt at all costs to preserve the state ' s credit ( known as the " high tax " or " state credit " Democrats ) and those who believed full payment unfeasible and sought only a partial payment ( known as the " low tax " Democrats ) . In the gubernatorial race of 1880 , each faction nominated its own candidate , causing the Democratic vote to be split , and allowing Republican Alvin Hawkins to win the election . In the 1882 gubernatorial race , the state ' s Bourbon faction , led by former governor Isham Harris , rallied support for the " low tax " faction , which nominated Bate as its candidate . Bate proposed paying 50 % on bonds held by railroads ( some of which were believed to have been obtained fradulently during the Brownlow administration ) , and making full payment on bonds held by schools , charities , and Sarah Childress Polk , the widow of James K . Polk . The " high tax " Democrats nominated their own candidate , Joseph Fussell . On election day , Bate won with 120 , 637 votes to 93 , 168 for the incumbent , Hawkins , 9 , 660 for Greenback candidate John Beasley , and 4 , 814 for Fussell . After his inauguration , Bate signed his debt plan into law , finally resolving the debt issue that had dogged the state for over a decade . There was still considerable anger over how the crisis was resolved , however , threatening Bate ' s reelection chances in 1884 . The Republican candidate , Nashville judge Frank T . Reid , mounted a strong campaign , but Bate was able to win reelection by a vote of 132 , 201 to 125 , 246 . During his first term , Bate signed into a law an act creating the State Railroad Commission to regulate railroad rates . Farmers , who deemed railroad freight rates too high , supported this , while railroad companies opposed it . The act creating this commission was repealed in 1885 , however , angering farmers , and damaging Democrats ' chances of holding onto the governor ' s office in the 1886 election . Later life . After Senator Howell Jackson resigned in 1886 , Bate appointed Washington C . Whitthorne to fill out his term , which was set to expire in March 1887 . The Tennessee General Assembly then elected Bate to fill the Senate seat . He was reelected in 1893 , 1899 , and 1905 . During his tenure , he served as the chairman of the Committee on the Improvement of the Mississippi River and Its Tributaries in the 53rd Congress , and the chairman of the Committee on Public Health and the National Quarantine in two later sessions . He supported lower taxes , and favored funding for common schools , the United States Weather Bureau , and the Army Signal Corps . He voted for the admission of Oklahoma , Arizona , and New Mexico as states . Shortly after being elected to his fourth term , Bate attended the inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt on March 4 , 1905 , where he is believed to have caught a cold . He died of pneumonia a few days later on March 9 . His body was carried back to Nashville on a specially - chartered train , and he was interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery . Members of the Frank Cheatham Bivouac , which consisted of surviving Confederate veterans , fired the final salute over his grave . Family . Governor Bate ' s paternal grandfather , Colonel Humphrey Bate ( 1779 – 1856 ) , was an early settler in Sumner County . Governor Bate ' s middle name comes from his paternal grandmother ( Colonel Humphrey Bate ' s first wife ) , Elizabeth Brimage . After the death of Elizabeth Brimage , Colonel Humphrey Bate married Anna Weatherred , sister of Governor Bate ' s mother , Amanda . Several of Governor Bate ' s relatives , including his brother , Captain Humphrey Bate ( 1828 – 1862 ) , were killed or wounded at the Battle of Shiloh . Dr . Humphrey Bate ( 1875 – 1936 ) , a cousin of Governor Bate , was a noted harmonica player and string band leader , and was one of the first musicians to perform on the Grand Ole Opry in the 1920s .