A Forgotten Texas Titan

Oran Roberts was one of the most consequential figures in Texas history. He was by turns, Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, the president of the 1861 Texas Secession Convention, a colonel in the Confederate Army, a delegate to the 1966 Texas Constitutional Convention, elected (but not seated as) to the US Senate, Governor, architect of its education system, and first professor of law at the University of Texas. He was also a noted author and scholar. Yet he is almost entirely forgotten today.

The Old Alcalde: Life and Times of a Texas Fire-Eater, Oran Milo Roberts is a new biography of Roberts by John A. Adams Jr. It reveals the full complexity of a giant of Texas history.

Adams follows Roberts' life from his 1815 birth in South Carolina, his upbringing in rural northern Alabama, to his 1898 death in Austin, Texas. After attending the University of Alabama, achieving his law license, and serving briefly in the Alabama legislature, he moved to the Texas Republic in 1841. There he established himself in legal practice. He became friends with prominent Texans, including Sam Houston, who appointed him a district attorney in East Texas. After Texas became a state, he was appointed district judge. In 1856 he ran for and won a position on the Texas Supreme Court.

While a Texas Supreme Court justice, he chaired the 1861 Secession Convention, clashing with Houston. Resigning his seat, he raised the 11th Texas Infantry Regiment, becoming its colonel. He left the Confederate Army after being elected Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

An unrepentant secessionist, he was replaced as Chief Justice and denied a seat in the US Senate during Reconstruction. He regained his position as Chief Justice in 1874, but resigned after being nominated for governor. He won, served two terms, and then helped establish the law school at the University of Texas. His milestone achievement was the reform of the Texas education system.

As Adams shows Roberts believed in slavery, that blacks were inferior to whites, and in the separation of the races. Yet he also ruled blacks had human rights prior to the Civil War and championed the establishment of black education systems, including at the college level.

The Old Alcalde displays how even great men often mix brilliance with shortcomings, and it maintains that their great accomplishments still hold value despite their failings. Oran Roberts illustrates that perfectly.

“The Old Alcalde: Life and Times of a Texas Fire-Eater, Oran Milo Roberts,” by John A. Adams Jr., Stoney Creek Publishing Group, January 2026, 302 pages, $34.69 (Hardcover), $8.95 (E-book)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.