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 also served as a United States Congressman from Texas from 1875 to 1879 and then again from 1883 to 1889.
Following the outbreak of the 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 the same year. During the Texas secession convention in 1861, he was one of only eight delegates to vote against secession from the United States. Despite this, he served in the Confederate Army from 1861 until being discharged in 1863.
During his term in the governor's office, Throckmorton's lenient attitude toward former Confederates and his attitude toward civil rights ran afoul of the Reconstruction politics of the Radical Republicans in Congress. He drew the ire of the local military commander, Major General Charles Griffin, who soon persuaded his superior, Philip H. Sheridan, to remove Throckmorton from office and replace him with a Republican and loyal Unionist, Elisha M. Pease.
As the Radical Republicans began to wane in their influence in the mid 1870s, Throckmorton was elected to Congress representing Texas's 3rd Congressional District. He later served the 5th District in the 1880s.
He died from a fall after becoming frail due to kidney disease.
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