HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

West Hughes Humphreys (August 26, 1806 – October 16, 1882) was the 3rd Attorney General of Tennessee 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 to ...
. He was ultimately
impeached Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...
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 house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
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 Confede ...
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 Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...
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 The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consist ...
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 le ...
from 1839 to 1851. He resumed private practice in Nashville, Tennessee from 1851 to 1853.


Federal judicial service

Humphreys was nominated by President
Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unit ...
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. 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 Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as ...
; serving as a Confederate judge; confiscating the property of Military Governor
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a De ...
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 Catron's ...
; 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 cons ...
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 of alcohol and wrote several books. He died on October 16, 1882, in Nashville.


Family

Humphreys' father,
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 ...
, 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 The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...
. 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 The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cath ...
. Reportedly Morton initiated former Confederate general
Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...
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)


References


Further reading

* Robinson, William M., ''Justice in Grey: A History of the Judicial System of the Confederate States'' (Cambridge (MA), 1941) , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, West Hughes 1806 births 1882 deaths 19th-century American judges 19th-century American politicians American people of Welsh descent American temperance activists Impeached United States federal judges removed from office Judges of the Confederate States of America Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives People from Montgomery County, Tennessee People from Somerville, Tennessee People of Tennessee in the American Civil War Tennessee Attorneys General United States federal judges appointed by Franklin Pierce Writers from Tennessee