Richard A. Sneed
Richard A. Sneed
“[Comanche County] was a land that was good to look upon when I first saw it. That it may ever remain the abode of a peaceful, happy, and prosperous people, is my most fervent wish.”
Biography
A Mississippi native, General Richard Alexander Sneed joined the Confederate Army in 1862 at the age of sixteen and was captured twice by Union soldiers before he was released in 1865. After working as an express messenger between Mississippi and Tennessee, he moved to present day Comanche County in Indian Territory as a trader for the Comanche, Kiowa, and Prairie Apache tribes at Ft. Sill and Anadarko (1885-1890).
He then moved to Pauls Valley where he worked as a merchant before organizing the Froman White Sulphur Springs Company to promote the curative waters of the springs. General Sneed’s first governmental post was a superintendent of Platt National Park. He was later appointed to the offices of commissioner of pensions, state treasurer, and secretary of state. In 1929, he became the Commander in Chief of the United Confederate Veterans of America.
Fun fact
Robert E. Lee was Richard Sneed’s “great pattern” in life. His admiration for the great general began a few days before the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1862 as Sneed was resting on the side of the road. When he saw the “Peerless Lee” coming toward him, Sneed quickly stood to his feet with his hat in hand and saluted him.
Oklahoma connections
Sneed came to Indian Territory as a trader in 1885.