David Robert Wingate David Robert Wingate ( February 20 , 1819 – 1899 ) was an American lumber businessman and plantation farmer who served in the Confederate Army as the commissioner of defense for Jefferson County , Texas , during the American Civil War . Overcoming numerous financial setbacks throughout his lifetime , he remained a successful industrialist . He owned as many as a hundred slaves before the emancipation , but he is remembered by society as a humanitarian to these people and generous provider . Biography . On February 20 , 1819 , he was born in Darlington County , South Carolina , to Robert Potter and Pherobee ( Kelly ) Wingate . At an early age , his family moved to the delta region of the Mississippi River where logging and sawmill s were prevalent . His education was unsophisticated , and he began to work in the lumber industry as a basic hand . At the age of 20 , he married Caroline Morgan , a native of Mississippi with whom he had seven children . In 1849 , at the age of 30 , he owned his first sawmill in Mississippi . After three years of business there ( including the rebuilding of the mill from a fire ) , Wingate moved to Newton County , Texas , in 1852 , where he established a large cotton plantation . Within seven years , he became the largest antebellum cotton planter in Southeast Texas , with seventy to eighty slaves working the site . Venture back into the lumber business . Wingate saw the lacking timber market of the area as an opportunity , and this led to his discovery of the abandoned Spartan Mill at Sabine Pass . By 1859 , he owned this sawmill , which he improved to be the largest steam sawmill facility in the state . He moved his family and thirteen of his slaves to this coastal town . In addition , he established a small fleet of lumber schooners for trade across the Gulf of Mexico . In summer 1860 , the Wingate Mill Industries steam boiler exploded , killing several of his employees and disfiguring others . Wingate quickly rebuilt the equipment to continue to operate his mill and to resume providing employment for his people . Participation in the American Civil War . In April 1861 , Wingate and one of his sons enlisted in the Sabine Pass Guard . David was appointed as chairman of safety for Sabine Pass , as well as Confederate States marshal of the east Texas region . During this time , he began blockade running , but lost a steamer he owned in 1862 when it ran aground . He and his crew torched the craft and the cargo of 500 bales of cotton to avoid capture . At this time , Wingate is credited with supplying the logs needed to build Fort Sabine . In August 1862 , the yellow fever epidemic reached Sabine Pass , triggering Wingate to evacuate his family back to Newton County where they remained until the end of the war . Several months later on October 21 , a Union Navy patrol invaded Sabine Pass , destroying his sawmill and residence there with fire . In 1864 , Wingate was elected chief justice of Newton County , with the provisional civilian governor Andrew J . Hamilton giving him the same appointment the following year . Financial losses and Wingate ’ s move to Orange . In 1873 , Wingate suffered another substantial financial loss . His transporting craft along with the cargo of cotton being shipped to market , worth about $ 50 , 000 dollars in that day , sank in the Sabine River . That same year , Wingate and his wife moved to Orange as he was seeking opportunities once again in the lumber trade . In 1878 , his new sawmill called the " D . R . Wingate and Company " began to operate , but just two years later , it was consumed by fire at a cost equal to that of his last loss . The city of Orange benefited from the presence of David R . Wingate , despite his unfortunate luck with fires . During the 1880s , he built larger facilities , with the demand for lumber always strong . Wingate also served as judge of Orange County from 1878 until 1884 . After his wife ’ s death in 1890 , he ventured into rice farming which succeeded well and added a new commerce to the region . On February 15 , 1899 , Wingate died due to pneumonia and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Orange . Wingate remembered by society . Nearing the end of the Civil War , the Emancipation Proclamation led to his slaves being set free in the 1860s . Those same people who were previously owned by D . R . Wingate were well taken care of by him , as part of his obituary reveals : In 1979 , the Texas Historical Commission constructed a marker in recognition of David Robert Wingate ’ s achievements , Civil War activities , and his contributions to society .