Samuel B . Maxey Samuel Bell Maxey ( March 30 , 1825August 16 , 1895 ) was an American soldier , lawyer , and politician from Paris , Texas , United States . He was a Major General for the Confederacy in the Civil War and later represented Texas in the U . S . Senate . Early life . Samuel was born in Tompkinsville , Kentucky , to Rice and Lucy ( Bell ) Maxey . His father was a lawyer , and in 1834 he moved the family to Albany , Kentucky to take a position as the County Clerk for Clinton County . In 1842 young Maxey got an appointment to the U . S . Military Academy at West Point . Although he consistently ranked near the bottom of his class , Maxey did graduate in 1846 and was commissioned a second Lieutenant . He was assigned to the Seventh Infantry Regiment which was engaged in the Mexican - American War , and joined them in Monterrey , Mexico . Maxey was cited for his actions in the battles of Cerro Gordo and Contreras in the summer of 1847 . He also participated in the battlers of Churubusco and Molino del Rey . He received a brevet promotion and was placed in command of a police company in Mexico City . In June 1848 Maxey was transferred to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri , and the following year he resigned from the army . He returned to Albany , read law with his father Rice Maxey and they began a joint practice when Samuel was admitted to the Bar in 1851 . He married Marilda Cass Denton on June 19 , 1853 . Then in October 1857 father and son moved their families to a small farm they purchased just south of Paris , Texas . They resumed a joint law practice here as well . Civil War . Samuel was elected the district attorney for Lamar County in 1858 and was a delegate to the state ' s Secession Convention in 1861 . That same year he was elected to the state Senate , but never served , preferring military duty . His father , Rice Maxey , was elected to replace him . Samuel had been given authority by the Confederate government in September to raise a regiment as its Colonel . In December , Colonel Maxey led his 1 , 120 man Ninth Texas Regiment from Bonham to join General Johnston at Memphis , Tennessee . However he was soon separated from his regiment and set to building bridges near Chattanooga . In March 1862 Maxey was promoted to Brigadier General . The regiment was badly mauled at the Battle of Shiloh , but he was not present . In fact he saw very little action during this period . He did see action at the Siege of Port Hudson in 1863 . In December 1863 , General Maxey was assigned as commander of the Indian Territory . His early success in conducting raids and capturing supplies prevented a Union Army invasion of Texas and earned him a promotion to Major General . In 1865 he was ordered to Houston , Texas , to take command of a Division . He turned over command of the Indian Territory to the Indian General Stand Watie on February 21 , 1865 and proceeded to Houston . Maxey ' s new command was plagued by desertions and his inability to get supplies and equipment . Frustrated and discouraged , he was allowed to resign on May 22 , 1865 . He returned home to Paris , and formally surrendered in July to General E . R . S . Canby . Although nominally a prisoner of war , he remained at home on parole . Later political career . As a senior officer of the Confederacy , Maxey was not eligible to hold political office or even practice law . In October 1865 he began his appeal for a presidential pardon . He was finally successful when President Johnson pardoned him on July 20 , 1867 after a personal appeal from Maxey ' s former West Point classmate Ulysses S . Grant . He resumed the practice of law in Paris . In 1872 he ran for the U . S . Congress , but lost in the Democratic Party Primary to William P . McLean . In 1873 , Governor Davis offered Maxey an appointment to the Texas District Court , but he declined due to prior involvement as a lawyer with cases before the court . In January 1875 , the Texas Legislature elected him to the United States Senate where he served two terms , from March 4 , 1875 until March 4 , 1887 . He improved postal and rail service in Texas and arguied against increased tariffs . He took little interest in larger national or party affairs . The legislature named the more dynamic John H . Reagan to replace him . Maxey returned to the practice of law in Paris , this time with his wife ' s nephew Benjamin Denton and Henry William Lightfoot . The latter of the two later married Maxey ' s adopted daughter Dora Maxey . When his nephew , Sam Bell Maxey Long , joined the firm in 1892 he finally retired . He died in 1895 at Eureka Springs , Arkansas , where he had gone for treatment of an intestinal problem . Samuel and Marilda are buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Paris . The townhouse that he built there in 1867 is now a state historical site on South Church Street and is open to visitors .