Background
Richard Coke was born on March 13, 1829 in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Descended from John Coke who emigrated from England to Virginia in 1724, he was the son of another John and Eliza (Hawkins) Coke.
Richard Coke was born on March 13, 1829 in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Descended from John Coke who emigrated from England to Virginia in 1724, he was the son of another John and Eliza (Hawkins) Coke.
Coke received his early education in the common schools of Williamsburg, entered William and Mary College in 1845, and graduated in 1849 with honors. He studied law and was admitted to the bar.
In 1850 Coke removed to Waco, Texas, then a new village on the frontier. Here his personality, ability, and industry speedily won him recognition as a lawyer. In 1858 difficulties arose between the settlers on the frontier and the reservation Indians on the upper Brazos and a general war was threatened. In 1859 Coke was a member of a commission, appointed by Governor Runnels, which induced the Indians to remove to the Indian Territory, and restored peace. When the great crisis of 1860 arose, Coke favored secession and was a member of the Texas secession convention of 1861. In 1862 he raised for the Confederate service an infantry company which became a part of the 15th Texas Regiment, and as captain of this company he served throughout the rest of the war in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
When the war ended, he returned to the practise of law at Waco. Soon afterward he was appointed by Provisional Governor A. J. Hamilton judge of the district court. When the government of Texas had been reorganized in 1866 under President Johnson’s policy, he was elected an associate justice of the state supreme court on the conservative ticket. He served only one year, for in the summer of 1867, after the passage of the Reconstruction acts, he was included in the wholesale removal of state officials by General Sheridan, the military commander, as “an impediment to reconstruction. ”
In 1873, as the Democratic nominee for the governorship, he defeated the Republican candidate, Governor E. J. Davis, by a vote of two to one. The Republicans sought to retain control by contesting the legality of the election, and the Republican state supreme court in the case ex parte Rodriguez actually declared the election void. The newly-elected state legislature assembled, and Governor Davis stationed African American militia in the state-house and appealed to President Grant for military support. Grant refused to interfere, and Davis, to avoid armed conflict, vacated his office. Coke was inaugurated on January 15, 1874. His administration was beset with many difficulties. The retiring heads of departments had made no reports; the state government was in debt and without funds; the frontiers were unprotected; Indians ravaged the western settlements; and Mexican bandits raided the valley of the lower Rio Grande.
The whole state was suffering from lawlessness, the product of years of war and civil disturbances during the Reconstruction period. Coke set himself to remedy these evils. By appealing to the United States military authorities and by the judicious use of rangers and state militia he obtained protection against the Indians and broke up the bands of outlaws. By encouraging rigid economy he reduced the expenses of the government and made a new beginning of the public-school system. Reelected governor, he was inaugurated in April 1876, and in the following month he was elected United States senator. He was reelected without opposition in 1882 and again in 1888. In 1894 he declined reelection and spent the short remainder of his life at his home in Waco, near which he had an extensive plantation.
Coke was a member of the Democratic Party. He supported the free- coinage silver bill of 1878 and advocated the repeal of the Resumption Act. He seconded the efforts of John H. Reagan to bring interstate railways under federal control, and worked for the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. He opposed the Blair Bill for federal aid to local schools on the score of constitutionality; and fought the protective tariff, the suspension of silver coinage, and the Force Bill. In all these matters he had the confidence and support of the great majority of his Texas constituents.
Coke was a man of spotless integrity, strong common sense, and unwavering fidelity to every trust reposed in him.
In 1852 Coke married Mary Elizabeth Horne of Waco.