Bridges column: John H. Reagan, a controversial figure in Texas history - part 1
John Henninger Reagan was a controversial figure in Texas History. He had a long record, serving as a judge, U.S. Senator, Confederate cabinet member, and chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission. While he was an outspoken defender of slavery and secession early in his career, he was later a defender of the interests of farmers against large railroad interests.
He was born in 1818 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. His parents were fairly prosperous and sent him to private schools for his education, and he even attended a seminary in Tennessee for a time. As a young man, reports emerging from Texas about its fight with Mexico and push for independence fired his imagination. In 1838, still just 19, he left Tennessee to head for Texas on his own.
He worked for funds along the way, briefly managing a plantation in Mississippi. Not long after his arrival in Texas by 1839, Reagan became embroiled in battles between the Cherokees in East Texas and settlers in the area. Reagan soon began working as a deputy surveyor in what is now Kaufman County, just east of present-day Dallas. He also made extra money working as a private tutor. He made enough money to buy his own farm in Kaufman County and began apprenticing himself to a nearby attorney to study the law. In 1846, he was admitted to the bar. He settled in nearby Buffalo, at that time a thriving community and the county seat of Henderson County. Widely respected in the area and now a newly-practicing attorney, he was elected district judge in April 1846, the first for the area with Texas as a new state.
In 1847, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. He was defeated for re-election in 1849. But his fortunes bounced back, and he was elected district judge in 1852. In 1857, he was elected to Congress as sectional tensions began to boil over. He was a rabid defender of slavery, even warning of racial violence if the slaves were ever freed. After the 1860 election, he joined Texas secessionists in trying to pull Texas out of the Union, sharply opposing Gov. Sam Houston, an outspoken Unionist. Reagan joined the secessionist convention, which ousted Houston and declared Texas a part of the Confederacy by early 1861. Reagan resigned from Congress and was then sent by the convention to be a part of the provisional Confederate Congress then meeting in Alabama.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis named Reagan postmaster general of the Confederacy. Reagan quickly went to work, keeping most of the post office system across the South intact and even convincing a number of postal officials in Washington, DC, to join the Confederate post office. Within a few weeks, the post office was fully functional again and was one of the few Confederate institutions to function successfully during the Civil War. But the Confederacy faced increasing defeats on the battlefield and economic pressures led to massive shortages and even bread riots. The Confederate post office had to close and consolidate many routes to stay functional By early April 1865, Union forces had broken through Confederate defenses at their capital in Richmond, the Confederate government, along with Reagan, were forced to leave on the few available trains still going southward. While they were initially planning to reassemble a new government in North Carolina, the reality was that they were running for their lives.
What lay next was still uncertain in a very chaotic time.
Ken Bridges is a writer, historian and native Texan. He holds a doctorate from the University of North Texas. Bridges can be reached by email at drkenbridges@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Bridges: John Reagan, a controversial figure in Texas history - part 1
