Richard Bennett Hubbard (1832-1901) - Find a Grave Memorial

Texas Governor. In 1857, Hubbard was appointed the United States Attorney for the western district of Texas. He resigned that office in 1859 to run for the Texas legislature. He was elected and supported southern secession. During the Civil War, he raised the 22nd Texas Regiment and became a colonel in the Confederate Army. After the war, he practiced law, and engaged in real estate speculation and railroad promotion. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1873 and 1876 as a Democrat. When Governor Richard Coke resigned his office on December 1, 1876 to accept a seat in the United States Senate, Hubbard succeeded to the Governorship. His term was marked by general lawlessness and financial diffifulties that were ascerbated by the fact that the state legislature was never in session. In spite of the difficulties, he remained popular because he reduced the state debt, promoted educational reform, fought land fraud, and restored public control over the state prison system. In 1885, President Grover Cleveland appointed him Minister to Japan, a position that he held for four years. The respect that he had for Japanese culture, made him a successful diplomat and contributed to an extradition treaty and set the stage for the revision of several commercial and diplomatic treaties between the United States and Japan in the 1890's.

Bio by: Thomas Fisher