John Trousdale Coffee (December 14, 1816 – May 23, 1890) was a Missouri politician, elected to the State Senate and then to the House, where he was elected as Speaker of the House (1856–1858). During the American Civil War, he served as a

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

officer in Missouri. In the late war, he moved to Waco, Texas, and later lived in Georgetown, where he practiced law again. He had a total of four wives and thirteen children.

Early life

Coffee was born in Smith County, Tennessee where he taught himself law and was admitted to the bar. He moved to Springfield, Missouri in 1842 following the deaths of his father and first wife.

Marriage and family

Coffee married his first wife in Tennessee. After her death in 1842, he migrated to Missouri, where he married again. His second wife died in 1845, two weeks after childbirth. That year in September, he married for the third time. By the end of the Civil War, when they had moved to Waco, Texas, he had a total of seven children. After his wife's death, he moved with his family to Georgetown, Texas. There he married for the fourth time. With his young wife, he had six more children. One daughter, Catherine Jane, married rancher

John Wesley Snyder John Wesley Snyder (June 21, 1895October 8, 1985) was an American businessman and senior federal government official. Thanks to a close personal friendship with President Harry S Truman, Snyder became United States Secretary of the Treasury, Sec ...

Career

Coffee practiced law in Springfield and Bolivar, Missouri.coffecamp.com - John Trousdale Coffee Lawyer, Politician, Confederate - Retrieved December 29, 2008
/ref> He raised an army unit to participate in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), but the war ended while they were en route to New Orleans.

Politics

Coffee returned to Missouri in 1849, where he was elected as the circuit attorney for Dade County. He lived in

Greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...

. In 1854, he was elected to the Missouri State Senate. He resigned in 1855 to accept a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

position with the First U.S. Army Cavalry Regiment at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. After serving only four months, he resigned the captain position due to illness and returned to Greenfield. In 1856, he argued to allow "squatter sovereignty" to solve the Bleeding Kansas problem (the argument was that Missourians should be allowed to vote deciding whether Kansas should be a slave state and they could do that by claiming land in Kansas). In 1857 he was a publisher of the Greenfield Southwest newspaper. In 1858 Coffee ran again for the Missouri Senate but lost in the Democratic primary to B.H. Cravens. He ran for the Missouri House of Representatives and was elected Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives in his first term. In 1860 he lost a Democratic primary for Missouri Secretary of State and returned to law practice.

Missouri militia

With the beginning of the American Civil War, Coffee raised a regiment in Dade County and was commissioned as a colonel in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. After Sterling Price retreated from Missouri, Coffee stayed in the state. He harassed Union troops in skirmishes around Neosho, Missouri. One of his most famous skirmishes was the Battle of Lone Jack. Coffee's troops were routed by Union troops on August 12, 1863 at Pineville when 60-70 of his men were killed. In October 1863, Coffee's troops captured the Union garrison in his hometown of Greenfield and burned the courthouse. Among the destroyed records was his land deed, which caused him to lose his land claim in Missouri. After the Pineville conflict, Coffee was passed over for promotion for General

Joseph O. Shelby Joseph Orville "J.O." Shelby (December 12, 1830 – February 13, 1897) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded cavalry in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. Early life and education Joseph Orvil ...

, who was given command of Missouri forces. Coffee left for Arkansas, where he attempted unsuccessfully to recruit a new regiment. In late 1864 or early 1865, he moved to Waco, Texas with his large family.

Post-Civil War

After the surrender of the Confederates, Coffee refused a request by Shelby to continue the fight under the flag of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. He formally surrendered to George Armstrong Custer on July 26, 1865 in Austin, Texas. He died in Georgetown, Texas on May 23, 1860.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffee, John T. 1816 births 1890 deaths People from Smith County, Tennessee People from Springfield, Missouri Confederate States Army officers Democratic Party Missouri state senators Speakers of the Missouri House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Shelby's Iron Brigade 19th-century American legislators People from Greenfield, Missouri People from Georgetown, Texas Military personnel from Texas 19th-century Missouri politicians