JAS. P. DOUGLAS, SOLDIER AND CITIZEN, Smith County, TX ***************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Submitted by James H. Douglas- JimRedWing@aol.com 6 February 2001 ***************************************************************** "Some Biographies of Old Settlers." Historical, Personal and Reminiscent. Volume I By Sid S. Johnson, 1900: Sid S. Johnson, Publisher, Tyler, Texas Chapter XXX - Pages 155-157. JAS. P. DOUGLAS, SOLDIER AND CITIZEN James P. Douglas is a noted man in Smith county, in Texas and Confederate history. He is a native of Alabama, moving to Texas with his father’s family in 1848, and settled in Tyler, making this his home since that date, a citizen for fifty-two years of Tyler. His father, Alexander Douglas, died a few years after settling in Tyler, leaving the responsibility of caring for the widow and younger children, which young Douglas did with more satisfaction and success than usually results of a much older man. He received in the schools here a good education that fitted him for the grand and eventful life he has lived. Young Douglas taught school, ran and managed mail routs, and at the same time found time to read law and was admitted to the bar. He edited the Tyler Reporter for several years and that journal was noted for the vigor and force of its editorials on State and National questions. When the war between the States was declared he could not restrain the hot blood that coursed through his veins and left Tyler with fifty men, joining alike number at Dallas, Texas, that afterwards composed the famous Douglas’ Texas Battery. He was made the First Lieutenant of the battery, but when the company reorganized within twelve months after its organization young Douglas was elected Captain. He and his gallant boys made the battery famous for meritorious conduct in the Western army, at Murfesboro, Chichamauga, Richmond, Ky., and in the Georgia campaign. In the thickest of battle Capt. Douglas seemed to be at home, directing the different sections of his artillery in its deadly conflict with the opposing forces. After the war Captain Douglas returned home, practiced law, edited the Tyler Reporter, and soon the people sent him to the State Senate. This was in the dark and gloomy days of reconstruction, but Senator Douglas, with a large Republican majority in both branches of the legislature, stood like a stone-wall, contested every inch of the ground in defence of the cause of the people whom he so ably represented. He was a leader on the democratic side in the Senate, and being as brave as his ancestors of Scottish history, he made the opposition pay for the ground they made in destroying the defences erected by Senator Douglas in the political fight for state supremacy. Retiring from the Senate he was the promoter of railroads and factory enterprises in Tyler, doing more effective work for Tyler than any one man in it. He was the advocate of home enterprises, and supplemented his work by putting his money into the enterprises. Tyler owes a debt of gratitude (yet unpaid) to Maj. Douglas. A loyal man to the people; a soldier in time of trouble. Maj. Douglas is living a quiet life in Tyler, the same big-hearted man that characterizes his useful life.