Headstone of Nathaniel Watkins in Watkins Cemetery near Morley, MO

Nathaniel Watkins--a half-brother to Senator Henry Clay of KY--was a lawyer residing in Jackson, MO at the beginning of the Civil War. He owned a plantation near Morley (now the General Watkins Conservation Area). When Governor Gamble was appointed, outgoing Governor Jackson appointed Watkins a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army. Watkins organized Confederate troops in southeast Missouri. The Federal troops burned Watkin's Jackson Home and he moved to his plantation after resigning his appointment. Ironically, Federal troops camped on his plantation on their way from Commerce to capture Island Number 10 near New Madrid.