Roger Quarles Mills was born on March 30, 1832, in Todd County, Kentucky. He moved to Anderson County, Texas, in the late 1840s, and the 1850 federal census listed him as a “gambler.” He began practicing law in the early 1850s. He married Carolyn R. Jones on January 7, 1855, and they had at least four children: Nannie, born around 1859; Carry, born around 1861; Charles, born around 1867; and Fannie, born around 1873. By 1860, he was living in Navarro County, Texas, and he owned $13,000 of real estate and $6,000 of personal property.

 

Mills initially supported the Whig Party, but he moved to the American Party and then the Democratic Party in the 1850s. He served in the Texas state legislature in the late 1850s, and he supported John C. Breckinridge in the presidential election of 1860.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861, and he mustered in as a private in the 3^rd Texas Cavalry. Soon afterward, however, he became lieutenant colonel in the 10^th Texas Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chickamauga, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign. He was promoted to colonel in 1862. Union forces captured him during the Battle of Arkansas Post in January 1863, and he spent the next three months as a prisoner of war before being exchanged. He was wounded at Missionary Ridge in November 1863 and again during the Atlanta campaign in July 1864.

 

He returned to Navarro County after the war and resumed his work as a lawyer. By 1870, he owned $10,000 of real estate and $5,000 of personal property. Local voters elected him to Congress in 1872, and he served until 1892. He opposed Reconstruction, and he served as chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means in the 1880s. He served in the United States Senate from 1892 until 1899. He settled in Corsicana, Texas, after leaving office, and he died there on September 2, 1911.

 

Image: Roger Q. Mills (courtesy Wikicommons)

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