Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1905-03-25
JOHN IIIlR[EAGAN. AHIElRDGAlS


the period of 1S4O-1S6O Clay, Cal
houn, Webster, Benton, Houston
BreckiIridge, Douglas, Cass-these he
knew ultimately Upon the southern
states ne saw the war cloud burst
all of this he saw and part of this he
was.
He was with Jefferson Davis al
Montgomery and at Richmond. He
saw the copfederacy rise and he saw
it fall He met and chatted with Lee
and Jackson and Stuart and Johnston
and Beauregard and Gordon. He wore
the gray when Mcdowell was routed
at the first Manassas, and he was
wearing it when the great Lee, on that
April morning in 1865, said to the he
roes of the Army of the Virginia:
Men: We have fought through
this war together. l have done the
best 1 could for you. My heart is too
full to say more
The uniform of gray was worn by
Reagan after that. He still wore it
when, with Jefferson Davis, he started
on that fateful ride to the southwark
fl ON Richmond.
Through the period of reconstruc-
ton he passed. And he lived to re-
jo:ce that the men who plundered the
South in her poverty, oppressed her in
her weakness and Knocked at her in
her calamity were cast down. In the
times of depression, of failure, of dis
couragement, he turned his face to-
ward the morning, he looked to the
dawn of new and better day. Shout
der to shoulder he stood with the
great men who emancipated and re-
deemed the land he loved best of ALL
In talk with a friend some time
before his death, Judge Reagan said:
Il am hoping to have time to write
a little something on a subject very
near and dear to me. 1 am not fighting
the war over again. God forbid that I
should say one word to revive the
dying embers of passion and prejudice
What 1 would do and what 1 would
have all true sOuthrons do is to pre-
serve the true, loyal spirit of the con-
federacy and take a positive stand
against the perversion of the history
of the conflict and it's causes.
1T is not for the past that 1 would
fight, but for the future 1t is not for
ourselves, but for our children. 1t is
for them to perpetuate all that is
noble and grand and manly in the his
tory of their fathers and forefathers
and to keep ever in mind and bring to
the eye of all the world the history,
the true history, of the confederacy
and the causes, the real causes, which
led up to the war between the states"
This passing of the last of the con
federates" calls to mind the cabinet
of the South, it's chief, Jefferson Davis
its vice president, Alexander H Ste
phens. Robert Toombs of Georgia
VIC of clio ~
minger of South Carolina, secretary OF
the treasury; L. P. Walker of Ala
bama, secretary of war; S. R. Mallory
of Florida, secretary of the navy, and
Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana, at
torney general. The companion and
peer of such men as William L. Yam
cey, 1.-The morning star of session;
Benjamin H. Hill, R. Barnwell Rhett
James l.. Orr, r. M. T. Hunter, Angus
tus H. Garland and Louis T. Wigfall
in the Senate, and Meredith P Gentry
Roger A. Pryor and Thomas S. Bo-
cock in the House, his was a position
both enviable and influential
In 1876 Judge Reagan was in the
turmoil of the Hayes and Tilden con-
test, and although he believed that the
latter was elected and the former seat
ed. he accepted the decision for him
self and saw it accepted by the South
with absolute loyalty and absolute self
control. He witnessed all the interest
ing political and social developm ents
that have made for progress in three
score years. Throughout his long life
he conserved the boy into the man
and stood for honor, justice and truth.
Pioneer, surveyor, lawyer, soldier
legislator, jurist, statesman patriot
honest gentleman, John Henninger
Reagan, true to himself and false to
no man, leaves upon the scroll OF
fame name which adds luster to the
glory of the country.-Henry Barrett
Chamberlfn in Chicago Record-Herald