WHITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1863
325
to General Magruder. While it is in the General's own handwriting, it is written with pencil, and the writing---or part of it-is now very dim. John Bankhead Magruder (August 15, 1810-February 18, 1871), son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Bankhead) Magruder, was born in Winchester, Virginia. His early education at the hands of tutors, was in preparation for West Point, from which institution he graduated in 1830, second lieu- tenant of infantry. In 1831, he was transferred to the artillery, and for the next fifteen yea.rs served in scattered garrisons throughout Texas, and in the Seminole War. During this time he rose to the rank of captain. During the Mexican War, he commanded the light artillery of Pillow's Division, and rose in rank to Lieutenant Colonel. After the war, he was stationed in Maryland, California, and Rhode Island, generally at, or near fashionable centers; Magruder became the Beau Brummel of the army and was nick-named "Prince John," because of his brilliant parties and extensive entertaining. In 1861, he resigned his commission in the United States Army, and was appointed a colonel in the Confederate Army in command of troops of the Virginia Peninsula. In October, 1862, he was transferred to command the District of Texas, later enlarged to indude New Mexico and Arizona. On January 1, 1863, he captured Galveston and the revenue cutter, the Harriet Lane, and drove off the blockading fleet. At the close of the war, he refused to seek parole, went to Mexico and became a major general in Maximilian's army; but after the downfall of the Emperor, he returned to the United States and lectured on his experiences in Mexico. In 1869, he settled in Houston, Texas, where he died. He was never married. See C. A. Evans, Con/ ccle1·ate Military His- tory (1899), III, 632-634; G. W. Cullum, Biographical Rcgist?-y of the United Milita111 Academy, I, 455-456; Houston Telegraph, February 19, 1871; Houst<ni Daily Union, February 20, 1871; Dictionary of American Biography, XII, 204-205.
TO WILLIAMSON S. OLDHAM 1
Huntsville, February 24th, 1863.
Hon. William S. Oldham. Dear Sir, During the recess in the last session of Congress, I wrote you a letter, but presume that it never reached you. My object in writing you was to congratulate you upon your course in the Senate. Your advocacy of the measure of receiving foreign goods duty free, I regard as a piece of pure statesmanship; and had that measure been adopted at the commencement of the provisional government, our station would have been infinitely better than it is now. It would have been offering an equivalent to those who might risk running the blockade. It was a wise measure and ought now to be adopted. I can perceive nothing but good resulting from the measure, and certainly no harm. In addition to this, your opposition to the conscript law, on the ground that Congress had not the power to pass it, argued,
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