Latham graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1859 and later attended the Harvard Law School.

He entered the Confederate Army in 1861 where he was commissioned captain and afterward major of the First Regiment of North Carolina State troops, and served throughout the American Civil War.

Following the war he resumed the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1868 and commenced practice in Plymouth, N.C.

He resumed the practice of law in Greenville, North Carolina and died at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland on October 16, 1895.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress