Samuel B. Maxey

Samuel B. Maxey

Samuel Bell Maxey (born March 30, 1825 in Tompkinsville , Monroe County , Kentucky , †  August 16, 1895 in Eureka Springs , Arkansas ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ) who represented the state of Texas in the US Senate . During the Civil War he was major general in the Confederate Army .

Early years as a soldier and lawyer

Samuel Maxey was the son of attorney Rice Maxey. In 1834 his family moved within Kentucky to Albany , where the father took a post as a county clerk in Clinton County . Young Maxey was accepted into the US Military Academy at West Point , New York , in 1842 . Although he was one of the weaker members of his class there, he still managed to graduate in 1846, after which he was accepted as a lieutenant in the US Army .

During the Mexican-American War , Maxey was part of the 7th US Infantry Regiment, which was deployed in Monterrey . He was praised for his service in the battles of Cerro Gordo and Contreras in the summer of 1847. He also took part in the battles of Churubusco and Molino del Rey . After a promotion, he was given command of a military police unit in Mexico City .

In June 1848 Maxey was transferred to Missouri ; the following year he took his leave of the army. He returned to Albany and took law school from his father ; after he was admitted to the bar in 1851, both operated a joint law firm. With his parents and his wife Marilda, whom he married in 1853, Maxey moved to a small farm south of Paris , Texas in October 1857 . Here too, father and son continued to work as lawyers.

In the civil war

In 1858, Maxey was elected District Attorney for Lamar County . In the run-up to the civil war, he took part in the secession convention of his state in 1861 ; that same year he was elected to the Texas Senate. However, he never took up his mandate because he preferred to fight as a soldier in the Confederate Army. Rice Maxey moved up for his son in the Senate.

Samuel Maxey received permission from the Confederate government in September 1861 to set up a regiment that he should lead with the rank of colonel . By December, he recruited 1,120 soldiers who subsequently formed the 9th Texas Infantry Regiment. Maxey led his men from Bonham to Memphis , Tennessee , where he was subordinate to General Albert Sidney Johnston . But he was soon separated from his regiment and used in Chattanooga to build bridges. In March 1862 he was promoted to brigadier general. During this time he took part in only a few missions, including the siege of Port Hudson in the summer of 1863.

In December of the same year, Maxey was given command of Indian territory . He managed to repeatedly carry out successful raids and stop supplies, which made it impossible for the Union Army to conquer Texas; for these successes Maxey was eventually promoted to major general. In February 1865 he was transferred to Houston to take command of a division; General Stand Watie succeeded him as commander of Indian territory . However, Maxey had no luck with his new assignment: many soldiers deserted; he himself was no longer able to organize supplies and equipment. He took his leave on May 22, 1865 in frustration. He returned to Paris, where he officially surrendered to Union General Edward Canby . Although this made him a prisoner of war, he was allowed to go free on his word of honor.

Political career

SB Maxey's home in Paris, Texas

As a former leading officer in the Confederate, Maxey was initially not allowed to take up a political office or practice as a lawyer. In October 1865 he made the first attempts to obtain a pardon from US President Andrew Johnson , which was finally crowned with success on July 20, 1867. The personal commitment of General Ulysses S. Grant played a role in this : the future president had belonged to the same class as Maxey at West Point. This now worked again as a lawyer in Paris.

In 1872 Maxey ran for the Democratic nomination for election to the United States House of Representatives in the Texas Second Congressional District ; however, he was defeated in the primary of his party to William P. McLean . The following year, Governor Edmund J. Davis offered him his appointment as a judge in the Texas District Court, but he declined, saying that he had previously tried cases before that court.

Finally, he was elected in January 1875 by the Texas Legislature to succeed the no longer running Republican James W. Flanagan in the US Senate. He took his seat in Washington, DC after re-election from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1887. As a senator, his focus was on questions of postal services and rail connections in his home state; at the national level he held back with activities. This was also one of the reasons why there was no third parliamentary term; in his place, the Texas Parliament elected John Henninger Reagan as its new Senator.

As a result, Samuel Maxey worked again as a lawyer in Paris before retiring in 1892. He died in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in 1895, where he was staying for the treatment of a bowel disease. Like his wife Marilda, he is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Paris. The town house he built there in 1867 is now a historical sight.

Web links

• Samuel B. Maxey in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Samuel B. Maxey in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Handbook of Texas