Foster, James Martin; Monroe Cty., AL;  now Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000




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Foster, James Martin, born in Monroe county, Ala., April 25, 1831, was 
a son of Flaval and Mary (Hollingsworth) Foster, and when about 10 years 
of age was brought to Caddo parish, La., where his parents settled and 
the father engaged in planting.  The son, James, completed his scholastic 
education at the Western Military institute, Drennon Springs, Ky., and 
after taking his diploma in civil engineering young Foster set about 
putting his theoretical knowledge into practice by entering the employ 
of a railroad, in the construction department.  Not long after, yielding 
to the solicitude of his parents, he returned to his home, where he 
engaged in agricultural pursuits.  Upon the death of his father in 1859, 
he assumed charge of the planting interests.  When in 1861 the call to 
arms in defense of the South rang out through the land, his first impulse
was to go to the front.  His patriotism, his military training, his 
fitness for leadership, all pointed to a military career, but his 
brothers having joined the army, duty, ever the polar star of his 
conduct, bade him stay to look after the helpless and needy, the women 
and children, whose support had been taken from home.  How faithfully 
he performed this duty is attested by the beneficiaries of his work.  
His plantation on the border line of Louisiana and Texas, was called 
the "New Egypt."  Its bins and cribs were overflowing with corn, and 
the smokehouse bursting with bacon cured under his supervision.  It 
was the Mecca of the poor and needy for a circuit of many miles, and 
to them was given without money and without price.  When Gen. Bank's 
army came up the Red river Mr. Foster was one of the foremost to 
shoulder a musket and go forward to meet the invaders.  After the 
battle of Mansfield his home was a refuge for the sick and wounded 
soldiers, who were tenderly cared for until well enough to return 
to their homes.  When the war ended, nothing daunted, he set about 
retrieving his fortunes.  He became one of the largest and most 
successful cotton planters in the state of Louisiana.  Associated 
with him in his plantation interests was his younger brother, the 
late Capt. C. J. Foster of Shreveport.  They owned and operated a 
vast tract of land in the rich Red River valley near Shreveport, 
which embraced several fine plantations, and upon which they frequently
made more than 3,000 bales of cotton in a single year.  In private 
life he was a shrewd business man whose integrity, industry and thrift 
not only made him successful in every sense of the word, but also a 
man of great influence for good in his community.  The name of Capt. 
James M. Foster, as he was familiarly known to all of his friends, 
will go down in the annals of Louisiana as one of the most powerful 
political factors who ever dwelt in the state, despite the fact that 
throughout his entire career he remained, out of choice, in practical 
retirement, accepting no public office of any kind, with the exception 
of a few minor trusts imposed on him by his fellow men, relating to the 
affairs of his parish and state, from the burden of which he had no 
desire to escape, believing it to be his duty as a citizen to assume 
and perform his full share of such responsibilitics.  He was one of 
the best known men in Louisiana, who wielded an influence in the affairs 
of both the state and nation.  He was a leader, who led men by wise 
counsel and with foresight and wisdom.  He gave of his time and energies 
toward putting down the evils of the reconstruction days following the 
Civil war; bore a prominent part in the long and bitter fight which 
resulted in the downfall of the Louisiana Lottery company in 1892, in 
which he stood opposed to the lottery company.  The story of his life, 
so strenuous in its endeavor, so high in its ideals of right, so 
persistent in its loyalty to rectitude and country and to God, is a 
rich heritage to his family, his children and grandchildren.  His 
life was diligent, many-sided in its activities, and never stopped 
growing and expanding until brought to an end by death, Dec. 11, 
1900.  In his domestic life Capt. Foster was equally fortunate and 
blessed.  In 1859 he was married to Miss Eleanor Long.

Source:  Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, 
Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic 
Form (volume 3), pp. 170-171.  Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  
Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.

Note:  The original source includes a photograph of Mr. Foster