Joseph Warren Speight

by John Dickey

In this day and time, too many people want to forget the people and events in our history, because they feel it cast a shadow on how our country and our state evolved. In doing so, we tend to overlook those whose built our state and our country and did so with highly positive results.

Joseph Warren Speight was born in Greene County, North Carolina on May 31, 1825 and was destined for greatness. He was the son of Congressman Jesse and Mary Warren Speight. Mary Warren’s father was General Joseph Warren, one of the founders of Revolutionary War group, the Sons of Liberty. In 1840, the family moved to Mississippi, where his father was soon elected as that state’s U.S. Senator.

J.W., as he was called early on, graduated law school and was admitted to the Bar in 1847, became a Mason, and later became the Grand Master Mason for the State of Mississippi. In 1846 he met and married Josephine Prewitt. J.W. and with his father he began to grow their law practice. But he had a health condition that soon forced him to consider moving to another climate, so in 1856 he and his wife moved to Waco Texas, where he had purchased a 150 acres farm along the Brazos River.

Immediately upon his arrival in Waco, J.W. joined the local Masonic Lodge #92, became the Clerk for First Baptist Church, and began to rapidly expand his law practice. He rewrote the Charter for the Texas Baptist General Convention and was elected President serving from 1871-1872. It was during this time period that he met up once again with Reverend Rufus Burleson and continued with his lifelong friendship.

Speight became a member of the board of directors of Waco University, and thru his developing friendship with Burleson, they worked together in bringing Baylor University to Waco. However, Waco University was a predominant female college, which brought about a highly anticipated merger with Baylor University. An interesting note about Reverend Burleson, he had baptized Sam Houston in 1851. In order to entice the move of Baylor University, Speight graciously donated 50 acres of his farm to the University so that it may build a campus near downtown Waco. Today, the Old Main Building and Burleson Hall sit on Speight’s farm.

Burleson became President of Baylor, while J.W. was involved in a series of successful arrangements to bring the Texas Grand Masonic Lodge to Waco. In 1866, J.W. wrote the charter presented to the Texas Legislature that allowed the construction of the Waco Bridge Commission to build the suspension bridge across the Brazos River. The six-man commission operated the Suspension Bridge for a brief period before selling it to McLennan County. The Chisolm Trail passed thru Waco where the bridge was use as the primary spot for cattle to cross the Brazos for a toll of one-half cent per head of cattle!

On February 1, 1861 Texas joined the Confederacy, Lt. Governor Edward Clark, who replaced Sam Houston as governor, and on October 2, 1861 appointed J.W. Speight as Colonel for the 15th Texas Infantry. With no prior military experience, J.W. began to build his army, drawing recruits from several nearby Central Texas battalions, and drew other soldiers who were mainly from the Central Texas area. J.W. selected as his officers
James Harrison, Richard Coke, Rufus Burleson, and George Erath. After the War, Harrison became a U.S. Senator, Coke became governor of Texas and Burleson became President of Baylor, while Erath became a highly sought-after surveyor for the State of Texas; his statue is in front of the Texas Ranger Museum.

J.W. put together an infantry of 15,000 men, and training began immediately just south of Bryan. Moving his infantry up towards the Sabine River, his men were finally called into action on September 2, 1862 at Newton, Missouri, covering several Confederate infantry commands retreating into Arkansas and Texas.

Speight’s infantry remained in the Sabine River area and along the Red River, fighting off attacks by the Union Army at several key locations as he remained under the command of General Edmund Kirby Smith of the Trans-Mississippi Department. Speight’s men were well trained and disciplined to such a degree that they never lost a major battle and his 15th Texas infantry was in high demand by other Generals throughout the Trans-Mississippi command.

These successes were not without a major cost to J.W., as his health and wounds would often cause him to retreat away from the main sector and to other safe areas to recuperate. His successes were highly noted and were soon to be recognized by General Smith. Smith issued his promotion order for Speight, which was sent to
President Jefferson Davis, but by the time it was approved, Speight’s health had forced him to return to Waco, and he had to retire from combat, thus negating his promotion to Brigadier General.

After the war, J.W. continued his prominent law practice. He bought and merged two local newspapers and remained active with Local 92 Masonic Lodge. His wife Josephine died of the fever and their four children remained in Waco. He remarried in 1868 to Mary Dockery who had 6 children. J.W. was requested numerous times to run for several political positions, but he never had the desire to do so. Additionally, he was
continuously asked to become a consultant for a great number of businesses locally, statewide, and from across the country. Ultimately, the frail and ailing 63-year old General J.W. Speight passed away April 26, 1888; as most Wacoans and all who knew him, would respectfully refer to him as General Speight, he was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Waco. Presently, there are 256 Confederate Soldiers who served under Speight’s command and that had requested to be buried near their commander in Oakwood Cemetery.

On March 15, 2015, the Sons of Confederate Veterans issued an Honorary Rank of Brigadier General to Joseph Warren Speight and conducted a special ceremony that was held at the Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, Texas. The commemorative certificate was given to the Waco Historic Society.