"Texas Congressman" Roger Q. Mills Hand Signed Album Page Todd Mueller COA

Description

Up for auction "Texas Congressman" Roger Q. Mills Hand Signed Album Page.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-9981
Roger Quarles Mills
(March 30, 1832 – September 2, 1911) was an
American
lawyer and politician. During the
American Civil War
, he served as an officer in the
Confederate States Army
. Later, he served in the
US Congress
, first as a representative and later as a senator. Born in
Todd County, Kentucky
, he attended the common schools and moved to
Texas
in 1849. There, he studied law, passed the bar, and began practicing in
Corsicana
at the age of 20 after the Texas legislature made an exception to the usual age requirement.
He was a member of the
Texas House of Representatives
from 1859 until 1860, when he enlisted in the
Confederate States Army
. He served throughout the Civil War and took part as a private in the
Battle of Wilson's Creek
, and as a
colonel
commanded the Tenth Texas Infantry at
Arkansas Post
,
Chickamauga
(where he commanded the
brigade
of Gen.
James Deshler
during part of the battle),
Missionary Ridge
and the
Atlanta Campaign
.
Mills was elected to the
US Senate
from Texas in 1892 to fill the vacant seat of
John H. Reagan
and continued to serve in that post until 1899. In 1893, when President Grover Cleveland sought repeal of the
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
, Mills gave loyal support. Silver coinage was popular with both parties in Texas, and Democrats in particular felt that Mills had betrayed them. His action probably cost him re-election in 1898. Other friends also noticed a change in him. His old colleague and co-worker in tariff reform, former Representative William L. Wilson of West Virginia, wrote in his diary in 1896, "Poor Mills, how he seems to have gone to pieces since the time when he was leading the tariff reform forces in the House, and a welcome and strong speaker on that great issue all over the country. Today he made one of the most extreme and wild jingo speeches in the Senate on the Cuban question that has marked the whole debate. Not less erratic has been his course for two years past on the financial question."