Pendleton Murrah (1824/1826August 4, 1865) was the
tenth Governor of
Texas. His term in office coincided with the
American Civil War.
Career
Murrah's birth date and birth location vary from source to source. Some have him born in 1824; others give his birth year as 1826. According to his 1850 and 1860 entries in the U.S. Census, Murrah was a native of
Alabama. His birthplace is sometimes listed as
South Carolina, but more recent sources indicate he was born in
Bibb County and was the illegitimate son of Peggy Murrah, a daughter of Charles and Avarilla Jones Murrah. He was raised and educated in a Baptist orphanage, and graduated from
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
in 1848. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar. He moved to Texas and opened a law practice in
Marshall.
After losing a race in 1855, Murrah won election to the
Texas House of Representatives in 1857, and also served on the executive committee of the
Texas Democratic Party
The Texas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Texas and one of the two major political parties in the state. The party's headquarters are in Austin, Texas.
President Lyndon B. Johnson was a Texas Democ ...
. In 1861 he declined to run for a seat in the
Confederate Congress because of ill health, probably
tuberculosis, but his health recovered sufficiently that he accepted a commission in the 14th Texas Infantry, a
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
unit commanded by former governor
Edward Clark. Murrah soon resigned his commission, but he won the gubernatorial election in 1863, and served until the fall of the Confederacy.
As governor during the
American Civil War, Murrah emphatically supported the Confederate cause, although he ended up in a controversy over the
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
of Texas militia troops into the Confederate Army. Still, even after
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 Nort ...
surrendered in 1865, he encouraged Texans to continue the fight.
When he learned that
Union Army forces were en route to Texas, Murrah fled to
Mexico with other Confederate leaders. Lieutenant Governor
Fletcher Summerfield Stockdale filled the vacant post, acting as governor for five days, until provisional governor
Andrew J. Hamilton
Andrew Jackson Hamilton (January 28, 1815 – April 11, 1875) was an American politician during the third quarter of the 19th century. He was a lawyer, state representative, military governor of Texas, as well as the 11th Governor of Texas during ...
assumed office in August 1865.
["STOCKDALE, FLETCHER SUMMERFIELD," Handbook of Texas Onlin]
accessed May 19, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
The trip to Mexico took a toll on Murrah's health, and he died in
Monterrey
Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...
on August 4, 1865. His grave is located in the Panteon Municipal of Monterrey, Mexico.
Family
Charles Murrah, the grandfather of Pendleton Murrah, was born in 1775 in
Warren County, North Carolina. He traced his ancestry through his parents Charles and his Margaret (Peggy) Murrah, and through them to his grandparents Lodowick and Mira Ann Jeter Murrah of
Caroline County, Virginia.
In 1850 Murrah married Sue Ellen Taylor, daughter of a prominent Texas plantation owner. According to the 1860 census, they had no children.
See also
*
"Died of states' rights" at the article Confederate States of America
External links
*
Entry about Pendleton Murrahfrom th
''Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas''published 1880, hosted by th
Portal to Texas History.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murrah, Pendleton
1820s births
1865 deaths
Brown University alumni
Democratic Party governors of Texas
People from Marshall, Texas
People of Texas in the American Civil War
Infectious disease deaths in Mexico
Confederate States of America state governors
19th-century American politicians