Henry Watkins Allen
17th Governor of Louisiana
In office January 25, 1864 – June 2, 1865
Preceded by	Thomas Overton Moore
Succeeded by	James Madison Wells
Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
In office 1853–1860
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
In office 1845–1847
Personal details
Born	(1820-04-29)April 29, 1820 Farmville, Virginia
Died	April 22, 1866(1866-04-22) (aged 45) Mexico City, Mexico
Political party	Democratic
Other political affiliations	American (until 1859)
Spouse	Salome Crane
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States
Branch/service	Confederate States Army
Years of service	1861–1864
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands	4th Louisiana Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Shiloh Siege of Vicksburg Battle of Baton Rouge

Henry Watkins Allen (April 29, 1820 – April 22, 1866) was an American lawyer, planter, soldier, and politician who served as the Governor of Confederate Louisiana. During the Civil War Allen served in the Confederate States Army, rising to the rank of brigadier general. He was later appointed as a military judge after suffering serious injuries in battle. He was elected to both the Mississippi and Louisiana State Legislatures before he was inaugurated as the 17th Governor of Louisiana, governing from Shreveport, the capital of the Confederate held area of the state. ^[1]

Henry Watkins Allen was born on April 29, 1820 in Farmville, Virginia into a Presbyterian family, the son of Dr. Thomas and Ann Watkins Allen. His father moved the family to Lexington, Missouri after Ann's death in 1830. While there, Allen worked for a time as a store clerk before he attended Marion College for two years. When he was seventeen, Allen ran away from home to Grand Gulf, Mississippi where he found employment as a teacher on a plantation. He also studied law during this time and was licensed to practice as an attorney in Mississippi on May 25, 1841.^[2]

In 1842, Allen moved to the newly independent Republic of Texas, serving briefly in Texan Army. He returned to Mississippi six months later and married Salome Ann Crane. Salome died in 1851 at the age of 25, and she is buried in Bruinsburg, Mississippi. In 1845, he was elected to the Mississippi state legislature where he served one term.^[2][3]

In February 1852, Allen moved to Louisiana and along with William Nolan purchased Westover, a sugar plantation located in West Baton Rouge Parish.^[4][5] Three years later in 1855, the land was divided and split, with Nolan keeping the name Westover Plantation on his portion of land and Allen using the name Allendale Plantation for his portion of the property.^[6] He owned 125 slaves, expanded his territory to over 2,000 acres, and oversaw the construction of a railway to transport goods.^[7]

Allen was elected to the Louisiana legislature in 1853 and that same year, journeyed through the south. Writing about his travels, he published his letters in the Baton Rouge Comet under the pseudonym Guy Mannering. He studied law at Harvard University for a year before making a failed bid for the State Senate in 1855. After hearing about the outbreak of Italian Revolution, he travelled to Europe in 1859, intending to volunteer in the army of Giuseppe Garibaldi. The conflict had ended by the time Allen arrived and he instead toured Europe. He wrote a book about his travel which was published in 1861 as Travels of a Sugar Planter.^[8][2][7]

During his absence, Allen was re-elected to the state legislature. Although he had entered into politics as a member of the Know Nothing Party, it was around this time that he switched to the Democratic Party. He became a floor leader for the party.^[7]

After Abraham Lincolns victory in the 1860 Presidential election and multiple southern states seceding from the United States, Louisiana Governor Thomas Moore authorized a secession convention set for January 1861. In 1860, Allen enlisted as a private in the Delta Rifle Company and was later promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 4th Louisiana Infantry Regiment. Before the secession convention met, Governor Moore ordered the Louisiana militia to seize federal forts and armories throughout the state. Allen took part in the seizure of the Baton Rouge arsenal, the federal fort at Berwick Bay, and was the commander of the garrison of Ship Island.^[2][9]

In early March 1862, he was promoted to colonel and marched to northern Mississippi where he served under the command of General Albert Sidney Johnson. As part of the Army of Mississippi, he moved into Tennessee and fought in the Battle of Shiloh where he was injured after being shot in the face.^[1][2][9] He was then stationed at Vicksburg where he commanded an ad hoc brigade consisting of elements of the 4th and 5th Louisiana Infantry Regiments. After the fall of New Orleans to Union forces, Major General Mansfield Lowell had ordered three batteries of heavy guns be dismantled and sent to Vicksburg. Allen was tasked with mounting them, but came under fire from the Union Navy during their construction. Allen oversaw the completion of the batteries construction after drawing his revolver and threatening to personally shoot anyone who abandoned their station.^[10]

Colonel Allen met Sarah Morgan on November 2, 1862, when he was still unable to walk due to receiving wounds in both legs at the Battle of Baton Rouge. She described him as a "wee little man" with a "dough face" in her diary which was published posthumously in the late 20th century.^[11]

In early 1863, while recuperating, Allen served as military judge of Pemberton's Army of Mississippi, at the same time also serving as major general of the Louisiana Militia. In June 1863, he suffered further injury while escaping a hotel fire at Jackson, Mississippi.^[12]

He was promoted to a brigadier general on August 19, 1863.^[13] He agreed to run and was elected governor of the portions of Louisiana still under Confederate control, taking office in January 1864; his tenure ended with the Confederacy's collapse in the spring of 1865.^[14]

Parts of Allen's Allendale Plantation in Port Allen, Louisiana had burned down, including the Allendale sugar mill, during the American Civil War (1861–1865).^[15][16]

As the Union army forces started taking over Confederate Louisiana, military authorities declared Governor Allen an outlaw, punishable by death upon his capture. Historian John D. Winters, known for romanticizing the Confederacy and denigrating African Americans, wrote about Allen's leaving Louisiana to take refuge in Mexico:

"Before leaving he addressed a long letter to the people of Louisiana begging them to keep the peace and 'submit to the inevitable' and 'begin life anew' without whining or despair. The crippled governor then got into his ambulance while a group of friends, tears streaming from their eyes, told him good-by."

— Winters, page 426

With the Confederacy's end, James Madison Wells, who had been governor of Union-controlled Louisiana, became governor of the entire state. Allen moved to Mexico City and edited the Mexico Times, an English-language newspaper.^[1] In November 1865, a special election was held under the Reconstruction government, with Allen (already in Mexico) defeated by Wells, with 5,497 votes to Wells' 22,312.

Allen died in Mexico City on April 22, 1866, of a stomach disorder.^[14] Allen was initially buried at Mexico City National Cemetery and Memorial, however his body was returned to New Orleans 10 years later, for burial at Lafayette Cemetery. In 1885, 19 years after his death, Allen's remains were reinterred on the grounds in front of the Old Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, in a grave marked by a rose-colored obelisk.^[17]

Many things in Louisiana have been named after Allen, and in 2020 a debate opened up on the impact of Allen's legacy since he had been a Confederate official, enslaver, and opponent of Black political rights.^[18]

Allen Parish in western Louisiana is named for him, as is Port Allen, a small city on the west bank of the Mississippi River across from Baton Rouge.^[19] The neighborhood in which he lived in while in Shreveport was later named as Allendale.

The Henry Watkins Allen Camp #133, of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is named in his honor. Camp #435, Sons of Confederate Veterans, was chartered in 1903 as the Kirby Smith Camp, but the name was changed prior to 1935 to the Henry Watkins Allen Camp #435 in honor of Shreveport's famous resident. Camp #435 is no longer in existence.^{[citation needed]}

Henry W. Allen Elementary School, a public school in New Orleans, is named for him. In 2021, the elementary school name was being debated for a name change based on Allen's controversial legacy.^[18] The building, which became a part of The Willow School and began serving as its middle school, was renamed after Ellis Marsalis Jr.^[20]

A statue of Allen (1962) by sculptor Angela Gregory is located in Port Allen.^[21] In July 2020, a proposal to remove the statue was presented to the West Baton Rouge Parish Council. The council voted 6-3 not to remove the statue.^[22] A maquette of Gregory's Allen statue can be found at the West Baton Rouge Museum. A bust of Allen, along with Lee, Jackson and Beauregard, is located on the Confederate memorial in front of the Caddo Parish Courthouse in Shreveport.

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

• Dorsey, Sarah A. (1866). Recollections of Henry Watkins Allen, Brigadier-General Confederate States Army Ex-Governor of Louisiana. New York: M. Doolady.
• Roland, Charles P. (1957). Louisiana Sugar Plantations During the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
• Winters, John D. (1963). The Civil War in Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.

• Works by or about Henry Watkins Allen at the Internet Archive
•  "Allen, Henry Watkins". The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. 1906. p. 84.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Louisiana Secretary of State – Biography
• Cemetery Memorial by La-Cemeteries
• Political Graveyard