The highest ranking Texan in the Confederate government, John Henninger Reagan, proved to be a crucial figure in nineteenth century politics. A leading Texas Democrat, he served not only as Postmaster General of the Confederacy, but also as a United States Congressman both before and after the Civil War.
Born in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1818, Reagan studied briefly at Southwestern Seminary in Maryville before moving to Natchez, Mississippi, to manage a plantation. This experience provided few opportunities for advancement, however, and Reagan moved to Nacogdoches, Texas, in 1839 in hopes of finding more rewarding work. Shortly after his arrival, he took up arms in the Cherokee War and fought to rid the local area of hostile Indians. Reagan then worked as a surveyor, scout, and justice of the peace. While serving in these various positions, he also found time to study law and eventually set up his own practice in the small hamlet of Buffalo, Texas, in 1846.
Reagan’s success in the legal field opened opportunities in the world of politics, and he won election to the Second Legislature of Texas in 1847. He took sides on controversial reapportionment and land issues, but lost a bid for the state Senate in 1849. Reagan was not out of public service for long, though. In 1852, he won election to serve as judge of the Ninth Judicial District of Texas, and his popular stance against the Know-Nothing party helped him win re-election in 1856.
The following year, Reagan ran for and won a seat in the United States Congress. His 1857 election placed him in Washington during a crucial period, as the nation struggled to deal with the debate over slavery. Reagan pursued a pro-Unionist position until John Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in October 1859. Following that event and the Abraham Lincoln's successful bid for the presidency in November 1860, Reagan threw his support to the South.
With secession fever sweeping Texas, Reagan resigned his seat in the U.S. Congress on January 15, 1861 and took part in his state’s secession convention fifteen days later. Although he could not convince then-governor Sam Houston to support secession, Reagan did ultimately vote with the majority of his colleagues to secede from the Union. Shortly thereafter, Reagan was sent as a state representative to the Confederate capital of Montgomery, Alabama, where he was asked by the new Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, to serve in his cabinet as postmaster general. Reagan accepted and served in this position throughout the war, doing his best to make sure the Confederate postal system functioned until the fall of Richmond in 1865. When Richmond was evacuated, Reagan fled with the rest of the Confederate cabinet and was captured along with Jefferson Davis in rural Georgia.
After the war, Reagan spent six months in federal prison before he was released and allowed to return to Texas. Upon his return, he found his home state in turmoil. Republicans controlled the governorship and legislature, and the strain of Reconstruction was being felt by most people in the state. Reagan fought the Republicans tooth and nail, and he served a key role in the removal of Republican governor Edmund Davis in 1875. In fact, that year proved to be a crucial one for Reagan, as he was also elected to his former congressional seat and participated in the drafting of the new Texas constitution.
Based on his record in the U.S. House of Representatives, Reagan won election to the United States Senate in 1887, but he resigned his post after four years to serve as chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, a position he held until 1903. He also helped to establish the Texas State Historical Association in Austin in 1897. Reagan died at his home in Palestine on March 6, 1905.
]]>Born in Virginia in 1807, John Bankhead Magruder rose to prominence in the early days of the American Civil War. A notable commander in Virginia, he cemented his place in history with his performance at the Second Battle of Galveston in January 1863.
Known as “Prince” John for his manners and social graces, Magruder spent his boyhood near Fredericksburg, Virginia, where his father practiced law. He entered the United State Military Academy at West Point in 1826. Four years later, Magruder graduated with the rank of second lieutenant and began an uneventful decade in the army until the United States declared war on Mexico. He served with distinction in the Mexican-American war, taking part in battles from the border of Texas to Mexico City, fighting at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec, and Mexico City. The rest of Magruder’s time in the United States army proved to be routine. He served in both California and Kansas before returning east to command an artillery regiment in Rhode Island.
When Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861, Magruder left with his home state. He was immediately given the rank of colonel in Virginia’s volunteer forces and placed in a strategic position on the Virginia peninsula with the job of protecting the Confederate capital at Richmond. Magruder did his job well, defeating Benjamin Butler’s Union forces at Big Bethel, one of the earliest battles of the war, before seeing action at both the Battle of Seven Pines and the Seven Days Battles in 1862. His performance at Malvern Hill received harsh criticism, however, with commentators claiming that he had allowed the Union army to escape capture. Later, Magruder's leadership would be vindicated and his record restored, but at the time he faced great scrutiny.
Prior to the Seven Days, Magruder had been ordered west to head up the Trans-Mississippi department. Following the criticism of his performance during the Virginia campaign, however, he was sent to Texas to take command of that state as well as the territories of New Mexico and Arizona. Magruder immediately made his presence felt on his arrival on the Texas coast. He organized an attack to break the Union blockade of Galveston and was successful at the Second Battle of Galveston.
This was the high-water mark of Magruder’s time in Texas and he spent the rest of the war busy with administrative work and trying to make sure his men were fed. Following the war, Magruder fled to Mexico with other Confederates and was employed by the Emperor Maximilian I. After the revolt against Maximilian, Magruder returned to the United States, where he swore the oath of loyalty required of all ex-Confederates and settled into a life of giving speeches on his time in Mexico to audiences around the country. Magruder died in Houston in 1871. His body was eventually moved to Galveston where it was reinterred at the Episcopal Cemetery on April 7, 1894.
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