John Gill Shorter

John Gill Shorter was an American politician who served as the 17th governor of Alabama from 1861 to 1863. Before assuming the governorship, Shorter was a Deputy from Alabama to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from February 1861 to December 1861.

Biography

John Gill Shorter was born on April 23, 1818, in Monticello, Georgia. History records him as a member of the planter class and an ardent secessionist. During his term of office, Shorter sent state troops to Randolph and other counties to put down resistance to the war effort. In the 1863 election, he was defeated by Thomas H. Watts by three votes to one. Shorter died on May 29, 1872, in Eufaula, Alabama.