John Henninger Reagan (October 8, 1818March 6, 1905) was an American politician from Texas. A Democrat, Reagan resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives when Texas seceded from the Union and joined the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. He served in the cabinet of

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as ...

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

. After the Confederate defeat and his release from prison after the war, Reagan called for cooperation by the South with the federal government, an unpopular position among most conservative whites. He was elected to Congress in 1874, after his predictions of harsh treatment for resistance to the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

were proved correct. He was elected in 1886 by the state legislature as a Democrat from Texas to the US Senate, where he served one term from 1887 to 1891. He resigned from the seat when appointed by the governor as chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission. He was among the founders of the

Texas State Historical Association The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of ...

Early life

John Henninger Reagan was born in 1818 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to Timothy Richard and Elizabeth (Lusk) Reagan. His parents were primarily of Irish and English/Scots border descent; his middle name was for German ancestors. He left

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

at age nineteen and traveled to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, which had become independent from Mexico the year before in 1836. Reagan worked as a surveyor from 1839 to 1843. He bought property and farmed in Kaufman County until 1851. During the time he worked as a surveyor, he also served as a private tutor to the children of

John Marie Durst John Marie Durst (1797–1851) was born on the frontier in Arkansas, and was an early American settler, military veteran, and politician in Louisiana and Texas. As a youth, he learned the mercantile trade from his godfather Peter Samuel Davenport ...

. Reagan read the law, serving as an apprentice in an established firm, and was given a license to practice in 1846. He opened an office in Buffalo and the same year was elected a probate judge in Henderson County. In 1847 he was elected to the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

, but was defeated for a second term in 1849. He was admitted to the bar in 1848 and practiced in both Buffalo and

Palestine, Texas Palestine ( ) is a city in and the seat of Anderson County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was named for Palestine, Illinois, by preacher Daniel Parker, who had migrated from that town. The city had a 2020 U.S. census population of 18,544, ma ...

. Reagan was elected as a district judge in Palestine, serving from 1852 to 1857. His efforts to defeat the American Party (

Know-Nothings The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

) resulted in his election to Congress as a Democrat in 1857 from Texas's 1st congressional district. Reagan was a staunch supporter of slavery. He believed abolition would cause such social problems as to require Southern whites "exterminate the greater portion of the lackrace." He also believed in the federal protections of slavery under the U.S. Constitution as extensions of private property rights, therefore he supported the Union. But when it became clear that Texas would secede, Reagan resigned from Congress on January 15, 1861 and returned home to the state to defend it. He participated in the secession convention that met at

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

on January 31, 1861. Chosen as a member of the

Provisional Confederate Congress The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, also known as the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing bod ...

, within a month Reagan was appointed by President Jefferson Davis to his cabinet as Postmaster General.

Civil War

Reagan was an able administrator, presiding over the only cabinet department that was described as functioning well during the war. Despite the hostilities, the

United States Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postma ...

continued operations in the Confederacy until June 1, 1861, when the Confederate service took over its functions. Reagan sent an agent to Washington, D.C., with letters asking the heads of the

's various bureaus to come work for him. Nearly all did so, and brought copies of their records, contracts, account books, etc. "Reagan in effect had stolen the U.S. Post Office," historian William C. Davis later wrote. When President Davis asked his cabinet for the status of their departments, Reagan reported he had his up and running in six weeks. Davis was amazed. Reagan cut expenses by eliminating costly and little-used routes and forcing railroads that carried the mail to reduce their rates. Despite the problems the war caused, his department managed to turn a profit, "the only post office department in American history to pay its own way," wrote William C. Davis. Reagan was the only member of the cabinet to oppose

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nor ...

's offensive into

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in June–July 1863. He instead supported a proposal to detach the First Corps of the

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...

to reinforce Joseph E. Johnston in Mississippi, in order to break the

Siege of Vicksburg The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mis ...

. Historian

Shelby Foote Shelby Dade Foote Jr. (November 17, 1916 – June 27, 2005) was an American writer, historian and journalist. Although he primarily viewed himself as a novelist, he is now best known for his authorship of '' The Civil War: A Narrative'', a three ...

noted that, as the only Cabinet member from west of the Mississippi, Reagan was acutely aware of the critical consequences of Vicksburg's capture and control of the river by Union forces. When Davis abandoned

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

on April 2, 1865, shortly before the entry of

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confede ...

under George G. Meade, Reagan accompanied the president on his flight to the Carolinas. On April 27, Davis made him Secretary of the Treasury after George A. Trenholm's resignation. Reagan served in that capacity until he, Davis, and

Texas Governor The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, w ...

Francis R. Lubbock were captured near

Irwinville, Georgia Irwinville is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Irwin County, Georgia, Irwin County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Irwinville was founded as "Irwinsville" in 1831 as the seat for the newly formed Irwin County. ...

on May 10. Reagan was imprisoned with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens at Fort Warren in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He was held in solitary confinement for twenty-two weeks. On August 11, he wrote an

open letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...

to his fellow Texans urging cooperation with the Union, renunciation of the secession convention, the abolition of slavery, and letting freed slaves vote. He warned that if Texans did not voluntarily adopt these measures, the federal government would likely impose military rule to enforce these policies. Abolition was underway and he knew that there was support for granting the vote to freedmen. He was denounced by Texans. After being released from prison later that year, he returned to his home in Palestine in December.

Return to public life

To those who felt that the

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology * Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

was unduly harsh, Reagan's prescience was hailed—he became known as the "Old Roman," a Texas

Cincinnatus Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus ( – ) was a Roman patrician, statesman, and military leader of the early Roman Republic who became a legendary figure of Roman virtue—particularly civic virtue—by the time of the late Republic. Cincinnatus ...

. He was part of the successful effort to remove Republican Edmund J. Davis from the

governorship A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in 1874, after Davis attempted to remain in office illegally after losing the election. That year Reagan was elected to the Congressional seat he held before the war, and he served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1887. In 1875, he was a delegate to the convention that wrote a new state constitution for Texas. In Congress, he advocated federal regulation of railroads and helped create the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to elimina ...

. He also served as the first chairman of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads. Elected by the Texas State Legislature to the US Senate in 1887 (serving March 4, 1887 to June 10, 1891), Reagan resigned to become chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas at the behest of his friend, Governor James Stephen "Jim" Hogg. He chaired it until 1903, continuing to serve under governors

Charles A. Culberson Charles Allen Culberson (June 10, 1855March 19, 1925) was an American political figure and Democrat who served as the 21st Governor of Texas from 1895 to 1899, and as a United States senator from Texas from 1899 to 1923. Early life and educat ...

and

Joseph D. Sayers Joseph Draper Sayers (September 23, 1841 – May 15, 1929) was the 22nd Governor of Texas from 1899 to 1903. During Sayers's term, the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 demolished that city. Early years Joseph Sayers was born September 23, 1841 ...

. Hogg had run on a platform of state regulation of railroads. ReaganStateoffBuildAustinTX

Conscious of the importance of recounting and interpreting history, Reagan was a founder of the

. He also attended reunions of Confederate veterans in his state. He wrote his ''Memoirs, With Special Reference to Secession and the Civil War'', published in 1905. Later that year, Reagan died of pneumonia at his home in Palestine, the last surviving member of Jefferson Davis' cabinet in the government of the Confederacy. Reagan was buried in East Hill Cemetery in Palestine, Texas.

Legacy and honors

*Historian Ben H. Procter included Reagan in his list of the "four greatest Texans of the 19th century," along with Stephen F. Austin,

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

, and James Stephen Hogg. *

Reagan County, Texas Reagan County is a county on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,385. The county seat is Big Lake. The county is named after John Henninger Reagan (1818-1905), who was the postmaster ge ...

is named in his honor. *Several schools were named for him, including John H. Reagan Elementary School in Dallas, and Reagan high schools in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

and

. In the 21st century, given demands of social justice, some public school systems have renamed schools that memorialized men associated with the Confederacy and the effort to continue slavery. Reagan High School in Houston was renamed in 2016 to

Heights High School Heights High School, formerly John H. Reagan High School, is a senior high school located in the Houston Heights in Houston, Texas. It serves students in grades nine through twelve and is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Heig ...

by the Houston Independent School District, one of seven schools in the district that were renamed for this reason. In 2019 Reagan Early College High School in Austin was renamed as Northeast Early College High School.AUSTIN'S JOHN REAGAN HIGH SCHOOL DECIDES ON NEW NAME
/ref> *The John H. Reagan State Office Building on the Texas State Capitol grounds was named in his honor. *Reagan is commemorated by a statue on the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

campus. On August 21, 2017, in recognition that such Confederate monuments are controversial in today's society, which is still seeking racial justice, Reagan's statue in Austin was taken down. Plans were announced to add it to the

Briscoe Center for American History The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History is an organized research unit and public service component of the University of Texas at Austin named for Dolph Briscoe, the 41st governor of Texas. The center collects and preserves documents and ...

on the east side of the university campus.Confederate Statues on Campus
/ref> *A park in his hometown of

was named for him. A statue of Reagan was installed on the grounds.

References

External links

* *
John H. Reagan lineage
— Smokykin.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Reagan, John Henninger 1818 births 1905 deaths 19th-century American politicians Methodists from Texas American people in rail transportation Executive members of the Cabinet of the Confederate States of America Confederate States Department of the Treasury officials Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Democratic Party United States senators from Texas Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives People from Kaufman County, Texas People from Palestine, Texas People from Sevier County, Tennessee People of Texas in the American Civil War Signers of the Confederate States Constitution Signers of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States Texas lawyers Texas State Historical Association presidents