John H. Reagan epub Secession and the Civil War: Memoirs of John H. Reagan (Abridged, Annotated)

In solitary confinement at Fort Warren after the fall of the Confederacy, Confederate Postmaster John Henninger Reagan wrote an open letter to the people of Texas in which he appealed to them to recognize the authority of the United States, renounce immediately both secession and slavery, and, if commanded by the federal government, extend the "elective franchise" to former slaves. Reagan stands as one of the giant Texans of the 19th century, a man who opposed disunion yet served the south admirably during the Civil War in the cabinet. Born into poverty, he rose from lawyer to surveyor to legislator. A United States congressman when the war broke out, he resigned to work for Jeff Davis. A complex figure, he was later shunned in Texas for his so-called "Fort Warren letter" by southerners. Though he remained a fervent "states rights" advocate and was opposed to universal franchise for freed blacks, he understood that southerners must either participate in making that happen or have it shoved down their throats. While he did not believe all blacks capable of responsible voting, he at least had the sagacity to understand that if intelligence tests were applied to allow African-Americans to vote, the same tests should be applied to whites. Reagan wrote this memoir in an attempt to explain the southern cause. Known as the "Old Roman," he was respected after the war by many in north and south. Even his editor seems not quite what to do with this somewhat unreconstructed memoir, except to leave it as the author wrote it, plain, forceful, and honest. Though today we see little virtue in the "Lost Cause" of the Confederacy, we can still find virtues in the men and women who felt they were following their consciences and hearts in its purposes. We can little understand the divisions that arose out of the war and Reconstruction without their view.