James Harper Starr

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just Duane, passing it along. Now there are men whose lives read like three different men's lives stitched together, and James Harper Starr was one of those men. Connecticut-born — which, in Texas, is practically a foreign country — he came to Texas in 1837 and set himself up as a doctor in Nacogdoches.

That alone would be a story. But Starr was just getting warmed up. Under the Republic of Texas, he served as Secretary of the Treasury and as an army surgeon.

Two jobs. One man. The Republic appreciated a person who could stretch.

Then the Civil War arrived, and what the Confederacy needed, it turned out, was someone who could stretch even further. At the start of the war, Starr was appointed to take and sell the property of enemy aliens, with the proceeds going to the Treasury of the Confederacy to aid the war effort. By 1864, he had become Postmaster General for the western Confederacy.

And here is where the story gets genuinely complicated. The South had been split in two. Federal control of the Mississippi River had cut the Confederacy clean apart — east and west, separated by a river and an enemy.

Starr's job was to hold those two halves together with something as fragile and stubborn as mail. Louisiana. Arkansas.

Texas. Those were his territories. And somehow, somehow, he had to get letters through enemy military lines and a naval blockade — to and from westerners fighting east of the river, to and from the Confederate capital itself.

Not a luxury. Not a nicety. This was essential, the marker says, to soldier and home front morale, and to maintaining military and governmental communications.

When a man in the trenches east of the Mississippi hadn't heard from his family in months, a letter was the difference between holding on and falling apart. So how do you move mail through a war zone with a river between you and everyone who matters? You use everything.

Pony express. Wagons. Blockade running vessels.

Stage coach lines. Couriers. Spies.

Army details. Every method short of prayer, and probably that too. But the problems didn't stop at enemy lines.

Starr was competing with the army itself for drivers, wagons, and horses — his own side's army, siphoning off the very resources he needed. When the military started drafting his postal employees, Starr fought back with writs of habeas corpus. When he couldn't get grown men, he hired men under sixteen years old.

The word men is in quotation marks on that marker, and you can hear the wry exhaustion in it. Printing facilities were scarce. Forms, supplies, and stamps had to be smuggled.

And one time — and this is the detail that just sits with you — the children of a cabinet officer crossed through enemy lines carrying three million dollars worth of stamps for him. Children. Three million dollars in stamps.

Through enemy lines. The South lost the war, and James Harper Starr came home to Texas. In 1865 he looked into East Texas oil showings.

He founded Marshall's first bank. And somewhere along the way, Starr County was named in his honor. Connecticut-born.

Came to Texas in 1837. Left a doctor, a treasury secretary, an army surgeon, a postmaster general, a banker, and a name on the map. Not bad for one life — even a life that felt like three.

What the marker says

Connecticut-born. Came to Texas 1837. A doctor in Nacogdoches. Secretary of the Treasury and army surgeon, Republic of Texas. At start of Civil War appointed to take and sell the property of enemy aliens, the proceeds going to Treasury of Confederacy to aid the war effort. Became Postmaster General for western C.S.A. in 1864. The South was then spit in two parts by federal control of the Mississippi River. Starr's problem was to provide mail service in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas and to devise means to get mail through the enemy military lines and naval blockade to and from westerners fighting east of the river and the confederate capital. This was essential to soldier and home front morale and to maintain necessary military and governmental communications. The mail was carried by pony express, wagons, blockade running vessels, stage coach lines, couriers, spies and army details. Starr competed with the army to get drivers, wagons and horses. Draft by military of postal employees was fought by writs of habeas corpus. "Men" under 16 were hired. Printing facilities were limited and forms, supplies, stamps had to be smuggled. The children of a cabinet officer once came through enemy lines with $3,000,000 worth of stamps for him. After the war, Starr in 1865 looked into East Texas oil showings. He founded Marshall's first bank. Starr county was named in his honor. Erected by the State of Texas 1963