Thomas Hill Watts was born in Alabama Territory, near present day Greenville, Butler County, Alabama on 03 January 1819. His parents, John Hughes Watts (02 April 1781-20 October 1841) and Catherine Prudence Hill (26 September 1797-23 December 1866), had moved to the new frontier from Georgia. He went to Airy Mount Academy in Dallas County, Alabama before graduating with honors from University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia in 1840. Watts then studied law, passed the bar in 1841, built his law practice, became a successful planter, and married Eliza Brown Allen (10 January 1825-31 August 1873) on 10 January 1842.

     He was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives, serving 1842 to 1845, and was then elected to the Alabama State Senate for the term 1847-1853. He was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama in 1855, but lost. He also made a run for the Alabama governorship in 1861 and was defeated. He was a pro-union advocate, but following the election of Lincoln he felt the need for withdrawal and was a delegate to the Alabama Secession Convention in January 1861.

     At the start of the war, he organized the 17^th Regiment, Alabama Infantry and was commissioned its Colonel. He served at posts in Pensacola, Florida and Corinth, Mississippi before resigning to become Attorney General on 18 March 1862. The most prolific of the attorney generals, he wrote over 100 opinions on the interpretation of Confederate law. He upheld the Conscription Act and also actively, but unsuccessfully, fought to establish a Confederate Supreme Court. Elected Governor of Alabama, he resigned on 08 September 1863, which became effective, 01 October 1863.

     The strain of the war on his home state made his term as Governor very difficult, but Watts remained optimistic about the Confederate cause until the end. On 01 May 1865, he was arrested by the Federals near Union Spring, Bullock County, Alabama and was shortly imprisoned. Following his release, he returned to Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama and resumed his law practice. After the death his first wife, he married Ellen C. Noyes (1854-1887) on 03 September 1875. In 1880-1881, he again served in the Alabama House of Representatives. Watts died on 16 September 1892, and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery.