James W. Throckmorton

James Webb Throckmorton (February 1, 1825 – April 21, 1894) was an American politician who served as the 12th governor of Texas from 1866 to 1867 during the early days of Reconstruction. He was a United States congressman from Texas from 1875 to 1879 and again from 1883 to 1889.

Biography Following the outbreak of a Mexican–American War, he joined the 1st Texas Volunteers as a private in February 1847. A few months later, he was assigned as an assistant surgeon to the Texas Rangers, until receiving a medical discharge in June of that year. Despite this, he served in the Confederate Army, first as a captain of Company K, 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment. Violent acts had spread in North Texas after the Great Hanging at Gainesville earlier in October 1862, when a total of 42 men were killed, most hanged.

Throckmorton defeated Elisha M. Pease in the Texas gubernatorial election of June 25, 1866, at the same time that the legislature approved a new constitution. He was elected with George Washington Jones as Lt. Gov. During his term as governor, Throckmorton's lenient attitude toward former Confederates and his attitude toward civil rights conflicted with the Reconstruction politics of the Radical Republicans in Congress. He angered the local military commander, Major General Charles Griffin, who persuaded his superior, Philip H. Sheridan, to remove Throckmorton from office and replace him with Elisha M. Pease, an appointed Republican and Unionist.