Charles Christopher Sheats

Born to a planter family in Walker County, Alabama, Sheats was educated in a local school for the gentry.

Becoming involved in politics, at the age of 21, Sheats was elected as a member of the secession convention in 1860 but he refused to sign the ordinance of secession. He was elected as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives in 1861.[1]

Sheats was expelled from the Alabama House in 1862 for his adherence to the Union after the American Civil War had begun. At the time, he was imprisoned on a charge of treason by the Confederate authorities, but could not obtain a trial. He was not released until after the close of the Civil War. In 1864 he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Thirty-ninth Congress.[1]

After the end of the war, Sheats was chosen to serve as a member of the state constitutional convention in 1865. He went on to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He started his practice in Decatur, Alabama.[1]

On May 31, 1869, Sheats was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as US Consul at Helsinger (often called Elsinore in English-speaking countries), Denmark. After signing of an 1857 treaty with Denmark that permitted the United States to have tariff-free passage in the Baltic Sea, the US was working in the postwar years to increase its trade in the area.[2] Sheats served in Denmark until elected to Congress but regularly returned to the US.

In 1872 he was elected as a Republican to the Forty-third Congress, serving from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1875. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874.[1]

Sheats died in Decatur on May 27, 1904. He was interred in McKendree Cemetery, near Decatur.[1]

• United States Congress. "Charles Christopher Sheats (id: S000314)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Charles Christopher Sheats at Find a Grave

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.