Alexander Watkins Terrell, Quaker, jurist, Civil War officer, and statesman,
the son of Christopher Joseph and Susan (Kennerly) Terrell, was born in
Patrick County, Virginia, on November 3, 1827.
In 1831 his Quaker parents migrated to Booneville, Cooper County, Missouri,
where Terrell grew to maturity. After graduating from the University of
Missouri, he returned to Booneville to study law in the office of Judge
Peyton R. Hayden. He was admitted to the bar in 1849 and practiced law in
St. Joseph, Missouri, until 1852, when he moved to Austin, Texas. There
he soon won a reputation as a courtroom protagonist of great astuteness
and skill.
Terrell was elected judge of the state's Second District in 1857. Due
to his office and his friendship with Governor Sam Houston, an ardent Unionist,
he took no part in the secession movement. Upon the expiration of his judicial
term in 1863, however, he joined the First Texas Cavalry Regiment, Arizona
Brigade, of the Confederate Army, as a major. Within two years he was assigned
the rank of brigadier general by Gen. E. Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi
Department, but the war ended before his promotion was confirmed.
As commander of what came to be called "Terrell's Texas Cavalry"
(noted variously as the 37th and 34th Regiments) he participated with distinction
in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill (where he was wounded) during
the campaign in northern Louisiana against Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks (the
Red River Campaign). When the war ended he fled to Mexico, where he briefly
served Emperor Maximilian as a battalion commander. His memoir, "From
Texas to Mexico and the Court of Maximilian in 1865," appeared in 1933.
After Reconstruction, Terrell served in both the Texas Senate and House
of Representatives. In spite of his public declarations declining his candidacy
for re-election, he continued to be re-elected by record margins. In total,
he served sixteen years in the state legislature.
From 1893 until 1897, Terrell was named minister to Turkey under U. S.
President Grover Cleveland's second administration.
After his return from Turkey, the aging statesman became active in preserving
the rich history that he had helped create in Texas. At his death on September
8, 1912, Terrell was serving as president of the Texas State Historical
Association. He is buried in the state cemetery in Austin.
Charles K. Chamberlain, Alexander Watkins Terrell: Citizen, Statesman
(Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1957).
Buckley B. Paddock, History of Texas: Fort Worth and the Texas Northwest
Edition (4 vols., Chicago: Lewis, 1922).
John W. Spencer, Terrell's Texas Cavalry (Burnet,Texas: Eakin
Press, 1982).
Alexander Watkins Terrell Papers, Barker Texas History Center,
University of Texas at Austin. |
