John H. Reagan
Big Lake, Reagan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Delegate Texas Secession Convention. While member 1st Confederate Congress, made postmaster general C.S.A. 1861. Difficult job begun by raid on U.S. Postal Dept. for southern personnel asking them to get maps, forms. Despite seizure mail by enemy, army draft of clerks and carriers and split of South, department carried on. At war's end imprisoned Boston. Later U.S. Senator, first chairman Railroad Commission. A Memorial to Texas who served the Confederacy. Erected by the State of Texas 1963.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John H. Reagan was a delegate to the Texas Secession Convention and, as a member of the First Confederate Congress, was named Postmaster General of the Confederacy in 1861 — a near-impossible assignment building a mail system from scratch amid war, blockade, and the loss of clerks to the army draft. Captured at war's end and imprisoned in Boston, he later returned to public life as a U.S. Senator and the first chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission. This memorial, erected by the state in 1963, honors Texans who served the Confederacy.
Why it matters
Reagan's arc — from Confederate cabinet officer to a founder of modern railroad regulation — traces the South's passage from secession through defeat into the reforms of the Gilded Age.
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Related people
- · John H. Reagan
Related events
- · Texas Secession Convention
Themes & tags
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