After the war, General Bate returned to Nashville and practiced law in partnership with Colonel Frank Williams. He remained active in politics serving on both the state and national Democratic committees and recieving nominations to the U.S. Senate on three separate occasions. He was nominated by the Democrats as Governor in 1882 and won that election handily.

 

General Bate served as Governor until March 1887 when, having been elected by the General Assembly elected him as United States Senator. He was reelected 1893, 1899, and 1905. He contract pneumonia and died March 9, 1905 and his body was returned to Nashville for his funeral in the State House.

 

He was interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery. Members of the Frank Cheatham Bivouac, which consisted of surviving Confederate veterans, fired the final salute over his grave