West Hughes Humphreys (August 26, 1806 – October 16, 1882) was the 3rd

Attorney General of Tennessee The Tennessee Attorney General (officially, Attorney General and Reporter) is a position within the Tennessee state government. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer for Tennessee. The current office holder is Jona ...

and a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee (in case citations, E.D. Tenn.) is the federal court in the Sixth Circuit whose jurisdiction covers most of East Tennessee and a portion of Middle Tennessee. The court has ju ...

, the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (in case citations, M.D. Tenn.) is the federal trial court for most of Middle Tennessee. Based at the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Nashvill ...

, and the

United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee (in case citations, W.D. Tenn.) is the federal district court covering the western part of the state of Tennessee. Appeals from the Western District of Tennessee are taken t ...

. He was ultimately impeached by the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1862, being convicted and removed from office by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

for supporting the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. He was banned from federal service for life. He served as a Confederate judge from 1861 until the end of the war in 1865.

Education and career

Born on August 26, 1806, in Montgomery County,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, Humphreys was the son of attorney and judge

Parry Wayne Humphreys Parry Wayne Humphreys (1778February 12, 1839) was an American attorney, judge, and politician who represented Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives. After serving one term in the House, he later served eighteen years as a judge ...

and his wife. His father later served on the State Supreme Court, was elected to one term in Congress, and served nearly two decades on the state judicial circuit. Humphreys was educated privately and attended the law department of

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...

. Failing to graduate due to ill health, he read law with an established firm in 1828. He passed the bar and entered private practice in Clarksville, Tennessee from 1828 to 1829. He moved to Somerville, Tennessee, continuing in private practice from 1829 to 1839. He was elected and served as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1835 to 1838. He was the 3rd Attorney General of Tennessee from 1839 to 1851. He was reporter for the

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the ultimate judicial tribunal of the state of Tennessee. Roger A. Page is the Chief Justice. Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state leg ...

from 1839 to 1851. He resumed private practice in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

from 1851 to 1853.

Federal judicial service

Humphreys was nominated by President Franklin Pierce on March 24, 1853, to a joint seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee vacated by Judge

Morgan Welles Brown Morgan Welles Brown (January 1, 1800 – March 7, 1853) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and the U ...

. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 26, 1853, and received his commission the same day. During the American Civil War, his service terminated on June 26, 1862, due to impeachment, conviction, and removal from office for support of the Confederacy.

Impeachment, conviction and removal from office

Humphreys served as a Judge of the Confederate District Court for the District of Tennessee from 1861 to 1865. On May 19, 1862, the United States House of Representatives voted to impeach Humphreys on the following charges: publicly calling for

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...

; giving aid to an armed rebellion; conspiring with Jefferson Davis; serving as a Confederate judge; confiscating the property of Military Governor Andrew Johnson and

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Justice

John Catron John Catron (January 7, 1786 – May 30, 1865) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1837 to 1865, during the Taney Court. Early and family life Little is known of Catro ...

; and imprisoning a Union sympathizer with "intent to injure him." On June 26, 1862, the United States Senate began the trial of the impeachment in his absence and later that day unanimously

convicted In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of " not proven", which is co ...

him of all charges presented, except that of confiscating the property of Andrew Johnson. Humphreys was removed from office and barred from holding office under the United States for life. He held his Confederate judgeship until the end of the Civil War.

Later career and death

Following the end of the American Civil War, Humphreys resumed private practice in Nashville from 1866 to 1882. In later life, Humphreys argued for the

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

of alcohol and wrote several books. He died on October 16, 1882, in Nashville.

Family

Humphreys' father,

, was an attorney, judge who served on the state Supreme Court and nearly two decades in the state judiciary, and one term as United States Representative from Tennessee. Humphreys was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He married and had a daughter, Annie Humphreys. She married John W. Morton, who served as a captain in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the Civil War. Afterward he was a founder of the Nashville chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Reportedly Morton initiated former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest into the KKK.

Works

*''Suggestions on the Subject of Bank Charters'' (1859) *''Some Suggestions on the Subject of Monopolies and Special Charters'' (1859) *''An Address on the Use of Alcoholic Liquors and the Consequences'' (1879)