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Sons of Confederate Veterans - Camp 1479 - Conroe, Texas - Granbury's Texas Brigade |
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Governor Lanham |
Samuel Willis Tucker Lanham
1846-1908
Sergeant
3rd South Carolina Infantry
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Samuel Willis Tucker Lanham was born July, 1846 in South Carolina to James Madison and Louisa de Aubrey (Tucker) Lanham in Spartanburg District (now County),
South Carolina, and named for his maternal grandfather, Samuel Willis Tucker. When the Civil War began, Lanham volunteered for the Confederate States Army,
despite the fact that he was only fifteen years old. As a private in the service of Company K, Third South Carolina Regiment, Joseph B. Kershaw's brigade
he fought primarily in Virginia but also saw action in Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Lanham was wounded at the battle of Spotsylvania in
May 1864. He was promoted to second sergeant near the end of the war and surrendered with his command at Greensboro, North Carolina.
On September 4, 1866, Lanham married Sara Beona Meng of Union County, South Carolina. The couple left for Texas the next month with nineteen other people and
arrived in Red River County in December. Lanham took a job teaching in a country school near Clarksville and later taught at Old Boston after moving to
Bowie County. In 1868 he moved his family to Weatherford, where he taught school in one room of a log cabin and lived in the other room. At the same time he
studied law and was admitted to the bar in Weatherford in 1869
Shortly after he was admitted to the bar , Lanham was appointed district attorney. His most famous case was the prosecution of Satanta and Big Tree, Kiowa chiefs
who had led the Warren Wagon Train Raid in 1871.
In 1892, Lanham was elected to Congress for the 11th district, where he served for a decade. He ran for the governorship in 1894, losing in the primary to
Charles A. Culberson, but then returned to Congress for six more years, representing the 8th district. Lanham was elected Governor of Texas in 1902,
taking office in January 1903. He was the last Confederate veteran to serve as governor of Texas.
After leaving office, Lanham retired to Weatherford, where he died on
July 19, 1908 He is buried in East Greenwood Cemetery, Weatherford, Parker County, Texas
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