DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Major Ben Ficklin, C.S.A. — and friend, this one is something else. They called him the Mystery Man of the Confederacy. Now that's a title you have to earn, and Ben Ficklin — born in 1827 — earned it the hard way, across two continents and more close calls than any one man has a right to survive.
He came up educated at Virginia Military Institute. At eighteen years old he was already a corporal in the Mexican War. Eighteen.
Most fellows that age are still figuring out which end of a rifle is which, and young Ben Ficklin is already drawing a soldier's pay and learning what the world is made of. By the eighteen-fifties he's out West, working stagecoach and mail lines running all the way from Missouri to San Francisco. The man had a gift for moving things — people, letters, cargo — across distances that would make your eyes water just looking at a map.
Then in 1860, he helped start the Pony Express Line. You know the Pony Express. Everybody does.
Ben Ficklin had a hand in building it. And here's where the story gets interesting. He also promoted the idea of a railroad that later became the Union Pacific — the first to span the entire United States.
He was out ahead of history, that man. Always out ahead. When the Civil War came, Ficklin was in Virginia — a soldier and state quartermaster at the start of it.
Then he was appointed Confederate purchasing agent, and they sent him to Europe. Now the marker says his swagger and his success over there excited Federal envy. Think about what that means.
The Union was keeping tabs on this man. He was effective enough, and bold enough, that the other side noticed. And then he did what the Mystery Man of the Confederacy does — he personally ran the blockade.
Passed right through New York and Washington on secret missions. New York. Washington.
Enemy territory, heart of it, and Ben Ficklin walked through like he owned the place. That's not theatrics. That's what the marker says he did.
After the war, he kept moving. In 1867 he was awarded a U.S. contract for a weekly mail run from Fort Smith, Arkansas, all the way to San Antonio and El Paso. His operational headquarters sat three miles below Fort Concho, right here in Tom Green County.
He owned six hundred and forty acres of land on that spot. Built corrals, a blacksmith shop, storage rooms, an adobe house, a kitchen, a commissary. He was building something meant to last.
It did not last for him personally. On a visit to Washington — the same city he had slipped through on secret wartime missions — Ben Ficklin died. Of a swallowed fish bone.
The Mystery Man of the Confederacy, who had run blockades and passed through enemy capitals and helped birth the Pony Express and the Union Pacific idea, was undone by a fish bone at the dinner table. He was buried in Charlottesville, Virginia. But his associates carried on the mail stage runs.
And sometime after the Major was gone, they named a town near Fort Concho for him. Benficklin. It became the first county seat of Tom Green County.
And that town, the one they named in his honor, the one that was supposed to be the lasting tribute to all that swagger and ambition — it was destroyed by flood in 1882. The Mystery Man of the Confederacy. Even the town they named for him couldn't hold on.
But the marker's still standing, and the story's still worth telling.
What the marker says
(1827-1871) Called Mystery Man of the Confederacy. Educated at Virginia Military Institute. At age 18 served as a corporal in Mexican War. In 1850's worked with stagecoach and mail lines from Missouri to San Francisco. Helped to start the Pony Express Line in 1860. Promoted idea of the railroad that later was the Union Pacific-- the first to span the U.S. Was a soldier and state quartermaster in Virginia at start of Civil War. Appointed Confederate purchasing agent, his swagger and success in Europe excited Federal envy. Personally ran blockade and passed through New York and Washington on secret missions. In 1867 was awarded U.S. contract for weekly mail run from Fort Smith, Ark., to San Antonio and El Paso. Had his operational headquarters 3 miles below Fort Concho. Owned 640 acres of land here. Built corrals, blacksmith shop, storage rooms, adobe house, kitchen and commissary. On a visit to Washington, died of swallowing fish bone. Was buried in Charlottesville,Va. Associates carried on the mail stage runs, later named town near Fort Concho for the late Major. "Benficklin" was first county seat of Tom Green, serving until it was destroyed by flood in 1882. (1965)